Chasing the girl!
by vixevilcat7
Summary: Scabior has another chance with 'the one who got away.' Tom and Fenrir Greyback are meddling old matchmakers and, damnit, they want grandkids! just another crazy idea i had for my current favorite pairing. mention of drug use, drinking and,as always, language.
1. Chapter 1

Scabior courts Hermione

It was two days past the full moon. A young man Apparated into view in the small courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron. He slipped around the corner and walked inside. Keeping to the shadows, he walked to the bar. "I'm back." He quietly told Tom as he took over making the drink orders.

Tom smiled, happy that his boy had come back safely from another transformation. He knew the pack the boy ran with and the territory he hunted in was controlled by Fenrir Greyback. He also knew Greyback had been pressing Scabior to stay with the pack, instead of returning to London. As yet, Scabior was resistant to the idea but sooner or later, he'd get tired of being pushed. Then he would either join the pack or be killed for sassing off to Greyback. Ocassionally, Greyback came back with him but this time he hadn't.

Tom looked proudly at his boy. The Scabiors had been out of their ever loving minds to throw this boy away. He'd been attacked and bitten at the young age of nine. His parents had been horrified. They had called him a monster and dumped him, wandless and defenseless, in Knockturn Alley with all the other 'monsters.' The boy had transformed out of sheer fear and was a fight with robbers when Greyback happened upon the scene. He ran them off, picked up the frightened pup, and took him to the Leaky Cauldon. He came back every month to take the boy to the wild for his transformations.

Tom immediately took him in. He lived upstairs and worked odd jobs, here and there, until he received his Hogwarts letter. His parents had disowned him but apparently they were going to allow him to keep the personal vault they had gifted him with. So money was no problem, as far as school supplies went. He was sorted into Slytherin and tried his best to just fade into the background. He was grateful as the headmaster called him into his office and told him he had a safe place where he could transform each moon. The head of Slytherin would make him the Wolfsbane potion each month. He made it through Hogwarts with fairly decent grades.

Once Scabior graduated, he came back to help Tom run the Leaky Cauldron. Tom had no family, to speak of, so he officially adopted the boy and told him the Cauldron would belong to him someday. The war took Scabior away from him again as the boy was handpicked by Fenrir to lead a snatcher gang. It almost killed him when he heard Scabior had disappeared, last seen falling off the wooden bridge as it exploded. After a few months had gone by and the war was put more and more behind people, his boy reappeared. It seemed he'd took off and stayed with the pack, a few months after the battle, until he was confident enough to come back to London. Tom could still see a hint of wildness in the boy's eyes. He still had some excess energy to work off.

"Oi, Scabior, there's a new bar opened up in the alley. Some of them swotty, rich boys own it. You ought to check it out some evening, boy. Get outta here, away from these old fogies." Tom told him. Scabior smiled. "Maybe some time, for now, I just wanna enjoy being home." He noticed the some of the whiskey kegs getting low so he took them loose and went to the basement for fresh kegs.

While he was downstairs, Fenrir Greyback came through the floo. Tom sighed 'here we go again.' Greyback came to the bar. To Tom's surprise, it wasn't Scabior he wanted to see. "Tom, how's our boy? He get back ok? So you know I've been trying to get him to stay with the pack but I haven't told you why."

"My mate and I are unable to have children. We've been trying for years, nothing. That's why I prefer to bite children. Not because I can but it's easier to raise children than a grownup or a teenager. I've raised about seven children and between war and the Ministry, every one of them has died or been killed. I'm an Alpha but I have no heir apparent. I could name one out of my current pack but I honestly don't like any of them well enough to name them."

"Scabior's not a born were but he's strong, a good leader, he showed that during the war. Of course, he would need to find a mate and have an heir of his own but that boy can charm birds out of a tree. Finding a mate should be no problem. He's shown no interest in any of the females of our pack, has he shown any particular interest in anyone here?" Tom thought hard.

The last time he remembered the boy showing interest in anyone had been about a week ago. That pretty little friend of Harry Potter had strolled through on her way to work. The boy's eyes had locked onto her as soon as she stepped inside and hadn't left her until the girl stepped into the floo. He mentioned her to Greyback who laughed. "Oh, Scabior son, the one who got away. We caught her and her friends during the war. He was a little bit obsessed with her. After the battle, he figured she'd get with Weasley and pop out a dozen little gingers, so he let everyone think he'd died on that bridge. He stayed with us until it cooled down enough to come back. Since he's been back, he's been keeping a low profile, hasn't he?

Tom nodded. He was intrigued about his boy's interest in the Granger girl. Maybe, if he and Greyback coordinated their efforts, they might get a couple of grandchildren out of the deal. "She comes through here almost every day. She works at St Mungo's. She's training as a healer, I believe." Fenrir's ears perked up. "A healer, you say? That's a handy skill to have around.

"I didn't figure Weasley would let her work, figured he'd be the type to keep her in the kitchen or the nursery." Fenrir tossed out that little volley.

"They aren't together, as far as I know. I believe there was a breakup there. Once in a while, you'll see the ginger with her but only if Potter is there, too. Otherwise, it's usually her by herself." Greyback was looking thoughtful. "You wouldn't happen to know any particular place where she goes to rest or relax, do you?"

"I was just telling Scabior about the new bar, just opened up here in the Alley, run by some of those swotty, little, rich prats she went to school with. She's been known to show up there, ever so often. Word is she's turned into a little bit of a party animal, she's been known to dabble in Muggle drugs, too. Potter and Weasley have had a hard time reining the girl in." on hearing that, Greyback burst into gales of laughter.

When they'd caught them during the war, she'd been the strongest one, willingly stopping and hexing Potter before giving up. Had she not run into a roadblock of more snatchers, no doubt the girl and Potter would easily have escaped from them. He had a hard time seeing them getting her under control but he knew a young ex-Snatcher who just might be able to do the trick.

Before he could tell Tom that, the door burst open and none other than the famous Trio under discussion walked in. She was in the lead and was dressed to the nines. "Leave me alone, both of you, I can take care of myself!" Hermione Granger snapped. She was going to the Riot, whether they liked it or not!

"Hermione, please, just be careful, ok? You never know who you'll run into in a place like that." Harry Potter was almost yanking his hair out in frustration. She was so bloody stubborn, sometimes!

"C'mon, 'Mione, if this is about Parvati, just drop it already! You weren't willing, she was and that's that! No need to go out on a bender every weekend!" Ron Weasley snorted.

Hermione whipped around to stare menacingly at him. "Ronald Weasley, you could go shag half of bloody Scotland, I don't care, this isn't about you! I've always had to be the good girl, the grown up, now it's my turn to have fun!"

Fenrir and Tom were unabashedly listening into the argument, as was over half the Leaky Cauldron, really. Seeing as they were right in the middle of the room, it was sort of impossible NOT to hear the fight. At that moment, Scabior came back and almost dropped both kegs as he caught sight of Granger. Greyback smiled. 'yep, that little girl's days of freedom were in danger of disappearing, especially if the pup had anything to say about it.' Scabior got the kegs reattached as he kept an eye on the arguing Trio.

"Harry, I'm going! If you want to stop me, you'll have to knock me out. If you do that, you better have your will made out and be gone by the time I wake up in the morning! Or you can go with me, if you absolutely INSIST on following me! And you, Ronald, why are you even here?! I'm surprised Parvati even let you out of the house!" Hermione whipped around and started for the floo once again.

"I give up, Harry, she's on her own. She won't listen anything we're saying. She's a lost cause. C'mon, Ginny and Teddy will be at your place soon. I have to get home." Ron said as he turned back to the door.

"You go on, tell Ginny I'm going to be late, maybe if I do go and hang out, she'll be calm down and leave soon." Harry wasn't about to give up on Hermione. Ron shook his head but let Harry go with no more argument. If anyone could get her to calm down, it would definitely be Harry.

Fen and Tom watched as Harry followed her on into the floo. "Hey, Scabior, how are ya, boy?" Fen greeted him. Scabior smiled and shrugged. "I think those two are having a bit of trouble with their little bit of fluff there." Greyback nodded after Harry. Scabior chuckled. "Yeah, they weren't too happy with the girl."

"Hey, Tom, where did they say they were going?"Greyback asked slyly.

Tom grinned. "The Riot, that's the place I was telling you about, Scabior. You should go, check it out."

Scabior rolled his eyes. "Don't think I don't know what you old fogies are on about. If the girl wanted to be chased, she'd let them know. She doesn't."

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe she does want to be chased, just not by them two!" Tom eyed his boy.

"You'll never know unless you try." Fen told him. "Wasn't her and Weasley being together the whole reason you forgot about her at the battle? They aren't together, now. No roadblocks."

Scabior tapped his fingers on the bar. Tom and Fen exchanged quick grins. He was thinking about it. Tom took the lead. "How about you take the rest of the night off? Go to the Riot, have some fun. Just because you and her are both there doesn't mean you'll end up seeing each other. Potter will probably stand watch over her all evening anyway."

He knew he was being manipulated, but he didn't care, at this point. The girl was there and he would be shortly. They were right. Weasley had been his only roadblock and he was no longer a problem. He looked at Tom. "You can handle it here?"

"I got this. You go have some fun. Knock a few back for me." Tom said.

He and Fen waited until Scabior had walked into the floo before they celebrated with a shot of firewhiskey.

Scabior walked out of the fireplace into a huge room. There were three levels and the floo was the top level. From here he could see down to the bar on the next level. The last level was the dance floor. He could see Potter sitting at the bar as he went down the stairs.

In the middle of the dance floor, he could see Hermione. The girl had a faraway look on her face. Little did he know, she'd taken a pit stop between the floo and the dance floor to pop into the bathroom and down a Vicodin. The girl was feeling no pain.

He passed by Potter and grabbed two whiskeys from the bar. Unknown to Tom and Fen, he'd known this place would be opening soon. He'd frequented another bar owned by them. They knew his order and as soon as they saw him, they knew he'd be by for two shots.

Potter jerked as he recognized him. "What are you doing here?" he hissed at him.

"It's a free country, Potter, and I was never convicted of anything. Cool your jets, Chosen One, I'm just here to have some fun." He sniped at him. Potter glared at him suspiciously. He continued on down the stairs. As soon as he hit the dance floor, he began weaving through the dancers until he was behind her.

He reached around and held a shot in front of her. To his delight, she took the shot, threw it back and whirled to face him. They dropped the glasses, wrapped their arms around each other and slowly danced as the lights went down for a slow number.

He didn't see Potter move to the very end of the bar to keep a better eye on him and Hermione. He was totally concentrated on the beautiful girl in his arms.


	2. the chase heats up

The chase heats up

Scabior and Hermione click but will they ever make it to a bed? Not if Harry Potter has anything to say about it! Tune in to see if our lovely couple can escape the dreaded Potter and find a bit of privacy.

Hermione wasn't sure who it was she was dancing with. One moment she was dancing by herself, the next a shot was dangled in front of her. Without missing a beat, she grabbed the shot, downed it, turned and wrapped herself around the man. She slid her arms up his sides, then around to his back. He felt wonderfully muscled. She could feel his arms flexing as he wrapped them around her.

She had her head laid on his shoulder. In her stacked five inch heels, she wasn't much shorter than him. She could feel him, lightly brushing his face against her hair. For some reason, that brought to mind the Snatcher whose group had caught her, Harry and Ron near the end of the war. He, the leader, had seemed fascinated by her hair. But he was long gone, such a shame. He'd been very attractive, someone she could see herself getting to know. 'Oh, well, this one is promising.'

In all the months she'd been clubbing since the breakup, he was the first one who had both danced with her and offered her a drink. Most of them were already counting on her walking out the door with them as soon as she accepted the drink. She might be a bit of a drunken druggie but she wasn't THAT easy yet. His arms tightened around her as she felt someone grab her arm, "Oi, share the little tart, man, she's here for us all!" She turned her head to see a wizard she'd rebuffed a few weeks earlier at a different club. She cursed her luck at him finding his way here.

Without completely letting her go, her dance partner simply drew back his fist and punched the other man in the face. He caught his shirt as he fell back and snarled angrily, "Hands off and keep away from her, she's no tart, you bloody arsehole!" Then he shoved him backwards and glared around, "Anyone else wanna put their two cents in?!" They were very quickly backed away from and he guided her towards the side of the room. She felt the wall at her back. He tipped her chin up. "Are you ok?" She looked at him, warily, then drew a sharp breath. She nodded, dazedly.

"Oh, my gods! It is him! How! I thought he died, on the bridge!' Hermione's eyes popped wide open as she saw who the man was. Scabior! She reached up, grabbed his ponytail and pulled his face down to hers. Once he realized what she wanted, he latched onto her lips like a dying man. He pressed tightly against her and she moaned loudly. He grasped her hips and raised her slightly, then realigned them to be hip to hip. She could feel him, getting hard, 'gods they needed to be out of this club, now!'

At that precise moment was when Harry Potter decided to exorcise his 'big brother' rights and clapped a hand onto Scabior's shoulder. "Excuse me, mate, that's my sister you're manhandling and you need to let her go, NOW! She has exams tomorrow and needs her rest! C'mon, Hermione, NOW!"

Upstairs, Fenrir Greyback had just come through to check the boy's progress. He walked down to the bar where he could see Malfoy, Zabini, Flint, and Pucey laughing and shaking their heads. "Oi, can a bloke get a drink?" Malfoy turned and poured him a whiskey. "Sorry, Fen, we were watching Potter spoil Granger's plans for the night."

"Oh, yeah, how so?" asked Fen, dreading the answer.

"Your boy, Scabior, was getting up close and personal with Granger. Potter took exception and went to put an end to it. From the look on Granger's face, Potter will be lucky to make it home alive tonight." said Flint, shaking his head at Potter's future demise.

Sure enough, as she stormed up the steps from the dance floor to the bar, Hermione had a fiercely angry look on her face. "How dare you, Harry Potter! What the hell was that?! I am a grown woman, if you didn't but notice and I can make my own decisions! Gods, he must think I'm such a baby, 'poor little Hermione Granger, so pathetic she has to be guarded by the Chosen One!'"

Scabior was slowly climbing the stairs behind them, his eyes narrowed, dead center on Harry Potter's back. Greyback almost choked on his drink, laughing. "Granger isn't the only one who might try to kill him tonight" as he pointed at him. Flint and the others chuckled. Zabini poured a round of shots and waved Scabior over to the bar. As he sat down, they heard a loud "Ow! Blimey, Hermione!" from Harry.

They turned in time to see her dashing to the bar. She planted her hands on the bar as she trapped Scabior between them. "I don't party through the week because I'm still in training. Seven o'clock, Leaky Cauldron, Friday night, we'll come back here. Hopefully, I can ditch the cockblocking big brother over there. Date?"

Scabior smiled at her, wickedly. "Date. See you Friday, beautiful." She pulled him to her for one last, long kiss, then leaned around him. "Zabini?" Blaine opened a tiny snuff box from under the bar, it was chockfull of pills. "You're all set here, Granger." She smiled and almost skipped back to where Harry was rubbing his shin. He eyed them suspiciously over her shoulder. They all smiled, innocently, and waved at him.

As soon as they hit the top level and went through the floo, Scabior whirled around on his stool." Damn it, I almost had her. That bloody bastard! She even remembered me and was still willing, damn it! And what the bloody hell is that you were showing her?"

"This, my good man, is sweet little Granger's muggle drug of choice. Vicodin, I have them imported from the States. One of these babies, coupled with her drink of choice, and that girl is flying high, not a worry in the world." Blaine told Scabior. "I discovered, quite by accident, at the first bar we opened, that she tends to frequent only the bars where she knows the bartender has a supply of these things. I keep them under the bar, just for her. I figure, if the girl is gonna do her damnedest to get high, the least we can do is keep her safely contained, where we can control who gets near her or not."

"Hey, mate, don't worry about Potter, we've decided we really want to see the Gryffindor princess hook up with a Slytherin. We'll help you out, try our best to keep Potter distracted, hell, we'll chuck the two of you into the stockroom, then swear and be damned to Potter that we haven't see hide nor hair of either of you." Flint told him.

"Next week, when the two of you get here, we'll have a plan all set up." Pucey told him. Greyback laughed at the sly look that Scabior was now wearing. 'The boy definitely had it bad for little miss Granger.'

As they sat there, a fair amount of women came to the bar, attempting to flirt with Scabior but he was too busy thinking of ways to avoid Potter and bed Granger to notice them. The other wizards were amused by the women's continual attempts. Greyback saw that he was almost acting like a mated wolf already. Once a wolf was mated or soon to be mated, they lost all interest in anyone but the person they were chasing. That went for both born werewolves and the human werewolves.

They had just stood to leave when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley came through the floo. The Slytherins gathered into a large group at the bar. Zabini, Flint, Pucey, and Malfoy were behind the bar, Scabior and Greyback in front of it. The Gryffindor's came down the stairs, walked over and stopped in front of Scabior.

"What's going on with you and Hermione?" Harry asked. "How long have you been meeting her?"

"Nothing is happening, Potter. Yet. Tonight's the first time I've ever seen the girl here. What's it to you? Like she said, she's a grown woman, can make her own decisions. Reckon I might be a decision she'd like to make on her own." Scabior answered casually. He cocked a brow when Weasley spoke up.

"You can just leave her be, is what you can do!" Ron snapped. "I remember you, dragging us off to the Malfoy Manor. You know what happened to her there, right? If you don't, then ask her to show you her left arm! Then see how anxious she is let you put a bloody paw on her!"

Scabior snarled and jumped forward. Greyback caught him, just in time. "Control your ginger, Potter! My boy won't tolerate being talked down to like that. He might not be the smartest student of the year but that girl knew who he was. He didn't force her to let him touch her, Potter, nor did he threaten her in any way. If that's what you're trying to imply, you're wasting your time."

"I'm not implying anything. I'm just trying to look after my sister. If his intentions toward her are good, then I have no objection to him. If he's just going to bed her and dump her, however, THEN we have a problem!" Harry said calmly.

"Sister?" Fen asked. Harry carded his hand through his already wild hair. "She's not my blood sister, but we've protected each other so much, so many times over the last eight years, she may as well be my sister. She calls me her brother, you know, the sweet, skinny, pesky little brother she's never had. Of course, I'm sure after tonight, no doubt I've earned other less complimentary nicknames from her. She was still cussing me when we got home." Seeing the curious looks, "Yes, she lives with me, it's a three story house, so no worries. Her parents aren't speaking to her at the moment and she needed a place close to St Mungo's."

"I don't know what my intentions are, at the moment, Potter. But the girl is definitely NOT a one night stand, I can assure you of that! I never would have let you take her a while ago, if I didn't intend to see her again." Scabior spoke up, having calmed down slightly. "You might actually want to ask her what her intentions are. It seems to me the girl might want a say in what's going on."

"I know what's going on with her, Scabior, a bad breakup, her parents not speaking to her, people at her workplace still looking down on her for being Muggleborn, it's all getting to her. I have no problem with her going out, having fun, kicking up her heels, but when it becomes an every weekend thing, threatening to spill over into her training, a program she had to almost fight her way into, I might add, then it's a problem. Maybe she does need you, she might settle down if she knows she has a regular playdate, someone who isn't going to run out on her. You wouldn't run out on her, would you?" Hardy asked plainly.

"No, I'm not running. Well, I have to run out one week out of every month, Potter." Scabior joked. Suddenly, he was nervous. He had just revealed his condition to Potter.

"You're a werewolf? Not a problem. Do you use the Wolfsbane Potion? If you ask nicely, she might brew it for you. She was not happy to discover that was one of the potions we were to learn our seventh year. She'd been looking forward to that one. Our favorite professor was a werewolf, you might have heard of him, Remus Lupin?" asked Harry.

"I've heard of him. When I was at Hogwarts, I used the Shrieking Shack, too. Snape always made me that potion. I always hated the taste of it but it kept me from killing anyone." Scabior remembered.

"Scabior? Where have I heard that name before?" Ron spoke up again. "Oh, yeah, you're a pureblood or you were. Is that why you sided with Voldemort?"

"I had no choice in that," Scabior gritted as he tensed. Greyback tightened his hold back up on the boy. He rolled his eyes at Potter. Weasley was going to keep on aggravating Scabior until he got shredded. He boy had a temper, he didn't lose control often but when he did, it wasn't a pretty sight.

"Ron, shut up or leave! You aren't helping matters, you're making it worse." Harry told him. Ron didn't like that as his face immediately turned bright red with anger. But he stepped back.

Harry looked the Snatcher, dead in the eye. "I'll not try to block your way with Hermione, as long as you're good to her and treat her right. But if you lead her on, only to dump her when you've had your way with her, I'll hunt you down and kill you."

Scabior nodded. He respected the boy more than he had earlier. He knew where he was coming from now. He would have done the same thing if he had sisters.

I want to thank the following people who have chosen to follow/favorite this story. Bunnyobelenus, Alana Fox, Janiya, Sweetpea2100, NymphadoraGranger95, loukritia, magiknight, MarauderInSecret, airyella, D. , FrostGrace, Hidden Disguise, LeeshaMartinez, Sudop9090, and orangemavis. Thank you. Love you all.


	3. casting doubts

Casting doubts

Ginny questions Hermione, Harry tells her he still doesn't trust the boy. Hermione finds out a few of Scabior's secrets and saves his life. Scabior anticipates her return.

In the last chapter, I know there are spelling errors and grammer errors, too, no doubt. I have no beta because I usually try to edit it as I write it. One thing, my tablet apparently doesn't like certain words and I didn't realize it until I already posted the chapter and reread it but my tablet decided to rename Blaise Zabini, Blaine. Sorry for the confusion there. When I typed the chapter, it was Blaise and somewhere in the middle of editing it, it somehow turned into Blaine.

Hermione woke up the next morning to the sight of Ginny Weasley, grinning at her from the other twin bed and holding a case of Sugar Quills up for her to see. 'hmm, a peace offering.' She thought grumpily. Harry had better be sorry, she'd wanted to stay with Scabior so bad, she couldn't stand it.

"Well. I hear we might have a new family member before long." Ginny was intrigued by the light blush that lit up Hermione's face. "So, tell me everything! No details left out! Who is he? Where did you meet? When did you meet?"

Hermione laughed. "One question at a time, Ginny, my brain is still a little fuzzy from last night. I'm surprised that Harry hasn't already filled you in on him."

"He said you'd be able to explain it more clearly than he could, whatever that means." Ginny laughed.

"His name is Scabior and I don't know if that's his first or last name, he didn't say. He was the leader of the group of snatchers who grabbed me, Harry and Ron last year." She watched for Ginny's reaction. She wasn't disappointed.

"Oh, Merlin! Please don't tell me he's the one who took you to Malfoy Manor, Hermione! I thought you said he died!" Ginny shrieked in disbelief.

"Yes, he's the one who took us there but, apparently, he didn't die! He must have been laying low, somewhere." Hermione shrugged.

"But, Hermione, how did you get mixed up with him again? Where did you meet him?" Ginny was still having trouble believing what she was hearing.

"He was at the Riot last night. He brought me a shot of whiskey and danced with me. This guy I rejected a few weeks ago tried to cut in and grab me away from him. He punched him, Ginny! The guy called me a little tart and he punched his lights out for it! Then he dared anyone else to voice an opinion, it was so wild, Ginny!" Hermione sighed dreamily, just remembering it.

Ginny smiled at her. It was so great, seeing Hermione smile again. She'd missed her sparkling laughter. First Hermione's parents drove it away, then her idiot of a brother ruined the rest of it.

"What happened after that?" Ginny knew that Harry popped up in the story fairly soon.

"He took me over to the wall and asked me if I was ok. I recognized him, Ginny, and he knew I recognized him. He must have been waiting for me to scream but I didn't. I pulled him to me, Ginny, I wanted him to kiss me, so bad, and he did! Ohhh, it was, oh my gods, I don't even know how to describe it, it was wonderful! We were making out, right there against the wall, Ginny! If HARRY hadn't stopped us, we would have gone even further than that. I felt it, Ginny! He was HARD and it was all for me!" Hermione was babbling, she was so excited.

"I hate to bust your bubble, Hermione, but what if that was all he was after? A quick shag in a nightclub?" Ginny questioned hesitantly.

Hermione shrugged. "Well, I have to lose it sometime. Last night was the first time I've even felt that exhilarated! Sorry, Ginny, but Ron didn't even make me feel this way. It's like it was meant to be him. Last year, if he hadn't been a Snatcher and we hadn't been at war, he's the type of guy I'd want to get to know, the bad boy. Is this making any kind of sense?"

Ginny laughed out loud. "Not really, but I'm just enjoying the fact that we're having girl talk again. I've missed you, Hermione. You have no idea how sad it is in the house now. I really don't like to talk to Parvati. She's giggly and gossipy but she's not you! That's why I try to spend as much time with Andromeda and here as I can."

Hermione happened to look down at her wrist, where she wore a muggle watch. She jumped up with a squeal. "Oh, gods, Ginny! I have to get to work! I've a test in twenty minutes!" Ginny giggled in delight and ran out so she could get ready.

Downstairs, Harry was cooking breakfast. He glanced at the clock. 'Hermione was going to be late if she didn't get up soon." Ginny came running in. letting him know Hermione would be down soon. He asked if Hermione had seen the Sugar Quills. Ginny nodded at him. He hurriedly threw a sandwich together for her and wrapped it so she could eat it as she walked.

"Did she tell you about him? Is she still going to see him?" Harry asked.

"Yes, she told me about him and, as excited as she was, no doubt, she will see the boy again. Especially if that's his regular stomping grounds. You can't keep her under wraps forever, Harry, sooner or later you have to let her fly. She's an adult, she has to make her own decisions, good or bad." Ginny told him.

They heard Hermione racing downstairs. She came flying into the kitchen. Harry had a cup of coffee waiting beside her sandwich. She stopped long enough to sip from it and nibble a few but of the sandwich.

"So are you going out again, this weekend?" asked Harry.

"Yes, Harry, I'm going back to the Riot this weekend. Don't even try to stop me." Hermione growled, still upset about last night.

"I suppose, If HE'S there, you'll be with him again? Am I going to have to drag him off of you again? I don't trust him, Hermione. After what he did last year, how can you want anything to do with him?" Harry demanded.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "As a matter of fact, yes, I am going to be with him, if he's there! AND I don't NEED you to drag him off of me! Maybe I WANT him on me, did you ever think of that?! As for last year, how do we know why he was even involved, maybe he didn't want to be in the war, any more than the rest of us!" she yelled as she ran out the door.

"Hermione, Hermione! Damn it! Why do I always say the wrong thing, Ginny? I didn't mean to hurt her! I just wanted her to be careful around him, just until she gets to know him! Fuck!" Harry slammed his hands down on the table in frustration.

"Harry, she knows you care, once she calms down, she'll see what you were trying to say. I think she really likes him. Maybe, he really likes her, too. Listen, she goes out every weekend, you said? And she's just started going to this new place? Why don't you and I go, this Friday night? Just so you can see how he's going to act with her. She said he protected her from another guy the other night." Ginny said.

"Yeah, that's when I went down, by the time I got to them, he was all over her." Harry gritted.

"She's a big girl, Harry. She needs someone, the same as you and me. Who knows, he might be the one, Harry. You can't deny her the possibility." Ginny rubbed Harry's arm soothingly. "We'll go there, Friday night. Give him a chance, Harry, please."

Harry sighed. Ginny was right, as usual. He was acting like a thick head and Hermione was paying the price. He resolved, right then, he'd give Scabior a chance to prove himself.

Hermione dashed through the door of the Leaky Cauldron, angrily wiping away a few tears. Harry just didn't understand! He had Ginny. Ron had Parvati, as horrifying as that thought was. Why couldn't he see that she needed someone, too?

She headed for the floo, not really paying attention to where she was going. She slammed into a firm body whose arms caught her before she fell. "Hello, beautiful, where you going in such a hurry?"

She gasped and looked up. Scabior was quite a bit taller, now that she didn't have her heels on. He smiled at her, amused. "Where did you come from?" she asked breathlessly.

"I work here, sweetie, have for years. Live here, too." He replied.

Her mouth flew open in surprise. "You live here? I've never seen you in here before."

"How often are you in here, though?" Scabior teased.

Hermione conceded the point. "If I ask you a question, will you answer it?"

"Maybe, it depends." Scabior looked at her thoughtfully.

"On what?" she tilted her head.

"On whether I feel like answering it. I don't usually talk about myself." He told her.

She took a deep breath. "Is Scabior your first or last name?" she waited, with bared breath, to see what he would say.

Scabior thought it over.' What the hell, it's a fair question.' "Last name. But Tom adopted me."

"Tom, the barkeep, he adopted you? What happened to your parents?" Judging by the look on his face, he was tired of talking about himself.

Sure enough, he changed the subject. "Doll, aren't you supposed to be at work?"

Hermione yelped. "When I get off work, I'll come back. We can talk more then. If you answer some of my questions, I'll answer some questions for you. Deal?"

'She wasn't going to give up.' He chuckled. "Ok, deal, Granger. Now scoot!"

She ran for the floo and was gone.

He shook his head in amusement. Right after she went through, Potter stepped through the door and headed for the floo. He stopped and looked at Scabior. Scabior went on, wiping tables and putting up chairs. The breakfast crowd was gone. Now they had to be set up fort the lunch crowd. "You work here?" Scabior just nodded. Harry considered him for another minute, then went on through the floo.

Shortly after that, Greyback came out of the floo. He was wearing dressier clothes than he normally wore. "Fen, what's the occasion?"

"I'm naming an heir today. You need to be there." Greyback told him solemnly.

"Why?" Scabior braced for the answer. Tom, having just walked up behind him, braced himself, too.

"Because you ARE who I'm naming heir. You don't have to live with the pack, unless anything were to happen to me. But you do need to be in attendance when I name you." Greyback watched the young man closely.

"Why me?" Scabior asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I despise all the natural wolves in my pack. They're weak, they whine too much and they do not have the proper leadership skills, the same ones you displayed last year. All of them are related to me through my sister wolves and I refuse to do as my father did. He named me heir, based on nothing more than the fact that I was his son. I refuse to name someone who, I know, is NOT going to pull their weight."

Flattered that Greyback thought so highly of him, he looked at Tom. "So, I don't have to leave the Cauldron?

"No, you don't, all you have to do is come to the meeting with me. I'll name you, introduce you to the elders and we'll be back here before you know it." Greyback gazed at him calmly, inwardly begging the boy to not let him down.

"Ok, you can name me, so long as I get to stay at the Cauldron until I'm needed by the pack." Scabior agreed.

Tom watched as his boy walked into the floo, after Greyback. He was sad that he had finally given in, but thrilled at the same time, because Scabior wasn't staying with the pack, he wanted to stay with him!

The Cauldron was quiet for the rest of the morning, then lunch time hit. Harry and Hermione both popped out of the floo, Hermione looking for Scabior and Harry trailing behind her like a little lost puppy.

"He's gone to the wild, miss, he should be back anytime now. He and Greyback had some business to conduct." Tom told as disappointment washed over her face. Harry took advantage of the moment to speak to her.

"Hermione, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hurt you this morning, I just wanted you to be careful around him, until he shows he's trustworthy. That's all. I just worry about you."

Hermione threw her arms around him. "Harry, I know I'm a mess, have been for months now. I know you care. I just didn't want to be a burden, to you or anyone else. I was trying to drown my sorrows, instead of facing them. I'm going to try and contact my parents soon, see if they've changed their minds yet. Ron, well, honestly, Harry, that whole thing never bothered me too much. I think, by the time, he actually cheated, I was already wondering what had taken him so long to cheat on me."

There was a sudden flurry of activity at the floo as Fenrir Greyback came rushing out, Scabior cradled like a child in his arms. "Granger," he yelled as he caught sight of her. "I need a healer, fast. St Mungo's won't treat werewolves! I need you to treat him, hurry!"

They cleared a tabletop and Greyback gently laid him on his side. "What happened? Bite, scratch, curse?" Hermione questioned briskly.

"Poisoned iron blade, Granger, if the poison don't kill him, the iron will!" Greyback answered.

The blade in question was still embedded in Scabior's side. Hermione had Harry and Tom remove the blade as she retrieved her books out of her bag. "Fen, what was the poison?"

Fen told her. "The Blood Boiler potion, it was the go to poison for Death Eaters in the war." Hermione flipped through her textbook until, "Aha! Found it!"

Just then, Harry slowly spoke up, "Um, Hermione, I uh, don't think he's breathing."

Hermione leaned over him. She couldn't see his chest rise, nor could she feel breath when she laid her hand over his mouth. "Scabior? Scabior! Damn it, wake up, we have a date Friday night! Wake. Up."

"Harry, get over here! The motion is stirring the cauldron. The incantation is Para Hexia Exito. The blood will put itself into that bowl. You just worry about the motion and words. Now, Harry, Now!" As Tom and Fen watched curiously, Hermione tipped Scabior's head back. Harry nodded at them. "It's ok. She's going to do CPR on him. It's a muggle treatment but it works."

As Harry drew out the poison, Hermione made sure his airway was clear, pinched his nose shut and, placing her mouth over his, blew a breath into him. Five times she breathed into him, then she placed her ear to his chest. When he didn't start breathing for her, she climbed onto the table with him. Placing her hands over the middle of his chest, she pushed down ten times, counting under her breath. Bending back down, she breathed five more times into him. With a sudden gasp, he jerked away from her.

She collapsed beside him in relief. Tom and Fen wore huge grins as they watched the boy's breathing become steadier. "Hermione, can you take over now?" Harry begged. Hermione grabbed her wand. His blood was almost clear. Then the rest of Greyback's sentence registered. "Wait, iron only affects,,,?" she looked up at Fen and gasped. "He's a werewolf?"

"Yes, Granger. I told you. That's why I didn't take him to St Mungo's. They won't treat werewolves."

She felt a hand weakly grasp hers and looked down. He was staring at her blearily. "Sorry, love, I was going to tell you when you came back this evening. Let you decide if you wanted to fool with me or not." He weakly whispered to her.

Hermione got his blood cleared, then began the spell to remove the iron from his blood. Then she leaned down to him. "Don't think you're getting out of our date that easily, Mr. Scabior. We have a lot of talking to do, sweetie."

Tom and Fen were chuckling at her. Once, the iron was out of his blood, Hermione used Distant to close the wound. Scabior immediately tried to sit up. "Uh, no." Hermione planted her hand squarely on his chest. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I got to work, Granger." He said.

"No, you just got healed, you're going to open your wound again." Hermione refused to let him up.

Scabior sighed. "I'll stay down but you have to check on me after work, maybe stay a while, keep me company?" he stared hopefully at her. She ducked her head, then smiled and nodded.

As Fen levitated him, he told her "Tom will tell you where my room is. The door will be unlocked." As she nodded again, Fen took him off to his room.

"Thank you, Ms. Granger, you saved my son and Fen's heir. We're both right grateful to you." Tom quietly told her. Hermione accepted the thanks gracefully.

"I have to get back to the hospital for now, but I'll be back this evening between four and six." Hermione alerted Tom so he'd know when to expect her.

I would like to thank I few more people who have decided to follow this twisted little tale.

Kittie night

The-raving-Cheshire-cat

Mistycouch20141


	4. scabior opens up

Scabior opens up

Now a message from our sponsor (moi) 😂 words that possibly caused confusion _last chapter _and what they were actually supposed to be. 'But=bites. Bared=bated. Fort=for. Distant=Dittany.' Onward to the story!

Hermione was bouncing with excitement the rest of the day. Normally, she had to force herself to leave work, but today she couldn't wait to leave. She knew Harry would be off work soon and he'd make a beeline to the Cauldron. If she wanted any time at all alone with Scabior, she was going to have to beat Harry there.

Right at four o'clock, she was ready and waiting in line to use the floo. She shot through and ran over to the bar. "Tom, which is his room?"

"First floor, last door to your left, miss." Tom pointed up the stairs.

She hurried up the stairs, ran down the hall and knocked on his door. "Come in." she heard. Opening the door, she peeked around and saw him, laying on his bed, holding a book. She came in and closed the door. Approaching the bed, she was delighted to see that he was reading Hogwarts: A History. "I've read that book so many times, I practically have it memorized."

He marked his page, carefully laid it aside and held out his hand to her. She took it and climbed onto the bed, beside him. He pulled her close and rubbed his nose in her hair, taking a deep breath. "You wanted to ask me some questions?"

"You said Tom adopted you, what happened to your parents?" she asked.

"My parents," he scoffed, "well, my parents didn't feel like raising a monster. They dragged me off to a place where all the monsters are and abandoned me."

Hermione jerked around. "What?!"

"They took me to Knockturn Alley and abandoned me, Granger. They were, no doubt, hoping I'd be killed but Fen happened along and rescued me." He shrugged.

"How old were you?" she almost whispered.

"I had just turned nine. I was playing with some friends, three on three game of Quidditch. Werewolves came after us. Three of my friends got away. I was bitten, along with my other two friends." He showed her the faded teeth prints on his shoulder and arm. "One of my friends, Alain, was bitten on the leg. My other friend, John, was mauled so badly, he knew he wasn't going to make it. Even if we'd gone for help, he would have been gone long before we ever got back. He begged us not to leave him. He didn't want to die alone. Our parents eventually came looking for us. John's dad got there, just before he died. Alain's dad," he stopped and shuddered, "Alain's dad cursed him for 'letting himself get bitten' and Avada'd him."

"I thought my dad was going to do the same thing but then he told me to follow him, he was going to find me some help. He led me and Mum to Knockturn, grabbed me, punched me in the face, told me I was no longer a son of his, threw me down an alley and yelled "Little rich boy, here for the taking!", then he and Mum left me there."

"I'd heard stories of children disappearing in there, never seen or heard from again. Soon as I heard footsteps, running towards me, I got scared, transformed. It was two robbers, I started fighting them. One was trying to get a rope collar on me. Fen showed up, ran them off."

Hermione had her hands capped over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. She was horrified by the cruelty and ruthlessness, shown by his parents. He wiped her tears away. "Hey now, no crying, darling, not over me."

"Fen brought me here and Tom took me in. I go to the wild every month, with Fen, for my transformations. He and Tom, between them, are more than enough fathers to make up for the rich bastard who actually sired me." He sighed, hating to remember that bastard.

"What about you? Do you get along with your parents?" he turned the question around on her.

"I used to, before the war, before I put a memory charm on them. It was supposed to keep them safe, just until the war was over. I went, afterwards, and found them, removed the charm. They SAID they understood it was only to keep them safe but they still haven't forgiven me for not telling them how bad things were in the wizarding world, to start with. If I'd told them, though, I wouldn't have been allowed to go back to Hogwarts. Harry needed me and Ron both. There was no question of me not being there, not helping him. They are still not speaking to me. They said it was a betrayal, that I was choosing Harry over them last year. That if I'd really wanted to keep them safe, I'd have gone into hiding with them. I don't know, maybe they're right." She picked up his right hand, looking at his ring. She had noticed it, last year. "I like this, it's an unusual design."

He twisted it around his finger. "Fen gave it to me last year. It's an heirloom, his dad passed it to him, he passed it to me. I didn't realize until today, at the meeting, that it's how an Alpha declares his heir. Last year, when the war started, Fen knew I'd be dragged into it. Not because I'm a werewolf, but because the rich bastard supported Voldy and threw my name into the pot as a potential follower. He was trying to worm his way into the good graces of the Dark Lord, without having to worry about being Marked. He thought offering up his useless heir would spare him. It didn't."

"It was Yaxley and Fen who came up with the idea of Snatchers, collecting the muggleborns for exportation. Fen volunteered me as the leader, knowing Voldy wouldn't worry himself too much about a lowly Snatcher. That way, he could also put himself into whatever gang I was leading, to keep watch over me. He's as protective of me as Potter is over you. Unfortunately for me, I became too good at my job. Either that or the rich bastard kept bringing my name up. However it happened, Voldy decided he needed to meet me."

"He Imperio'd Fen to bring me to him and have me kneel. I couldn't disobey, Granger, I had to follow his orders. If I hadn't, Fen would have had to kill me, on the spot. I couldn't do that to him. At that time, he'd already raised eight pups, almost to adulthood. Seven of them had been killed by other werewolves or the Aurors. I was the only pup he had left. I couldn't make him kill me, Granger, so I allowed the Dark Lord to Mark me." He traced the faded tattoo. He couldn't look at her, afraid all he'd see was disgust for his actions.

He was caught by surprise when she raised up, threw a leg across his legs and straddled him. She cupped his face. Then she kissed him. "I'm done with my questions for now," she whispered to him. He grinned, laid her on his pillow and followed her down.

Harry Potter came rushing through the floo. Fen, who had come through not five minutes before him, and Tom looked up. "Where is he? I know she's with him. She didn't wait for me at St Mungo's. How long has she been here?!"

"Calm down, Mr. Potter, she hasn't been here that long." Tom told him. "He's on the first floor, last door to your left. Make sure you knock first!" Tom and Fen began cackling, as they watched him run up the steps.

"Hermione, open this door! I know you're in there. It's time to go now! You've tests all this week! C'mon, now!" Harry banged on the door. He'd give her five minutes, if the door wasn't open, he was going to bust it down. He could hear them moving around in the room.

"Oh, Merlin." Scabior gasped for breath. She had her legs wrapped around his legs, holding him in place on top of her. He had one hand between her legs and the other massaging her breasts. She was so ready and so was he. They were so close! "Damn it, Potter, couldn't you have waited five more minutes!" Hermione didn't want to let him up, he was there, right there! But she knew Harry and how impatient he was. She reluctantly released Scabior and sat up. They had barely waved their clothes back on when Harry burst into the room. "Damn it, Hermione! Now I have to drag YOU off of HIM? You have testing all this week, you haven't even studied for any of them!"

Behind Harry, Scabior could see his foster and adoptive dad, laughing their heads off in the hallway. 'Gods, by the time he actually bedded her, he was going to have such a case of blue balls!'

Hermione and Harry were yelling, she was cussing him with every breath. He caught her to him and whispered in her ear. "It's alright, darling, concentrate on your tests this week. We have all weekend to celebrate."

Hermione was not a happy camper, but with that breathy promise in her ear, she knew, come hell or high water, they would be fully together this weekend. She allowed him to pull her up off the bed and they walked out behind Harry, both of them amusing Tom and Fen as they made faces at Harry's back. The group made their way downstairs. Two highly pissed off teens, a very frustrated werewolf and two highly amused older wizards, the crowd below were hiding grins as most of them had heard the whole commotion from downstairs. Before she let Harry lead her out, Hermione threw her arms around Scabior one last time. "One last question?"

He nodded. She asked, "What's your first name?"

"Michael, my full name was Michael Thomas Scabior." He said. "After I started Snatching, I shortened it to Scabior the Snatcher.

She smiled. "I like it, both versions of it. Till Friday." She gave him an extra tight squeeze and stepped back. Then she sarcastically saluted Harry. "Lead on, Master Warden, lead on!"

Harry rolled his eyes as Scabior, Tom and Fen all laughed at Hermione's antics. He was trying really hard to stay angry with her but she was his sister. It just wasn't in him to stay mad at her for long. He knew, though, that she might well hold a grudge against him for a while. That's why he was only going to monitor her until the weekend. After promising Ginny to give Scabior a chance, he would let him take responsibility of Hermione for the weekend and god forbid the boy let anything happen to her. If she was hurt in any way, he'd personally hunt Scabior down and kick his ass.

Back at Grimmauld Place, Ginny had just arrived with Andromeda and Teddy Lupin. Hermione immediately picked up the sweet little toddler, who changed his hair and eyes to match her honey brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She giggled and took him over to the couch beside the bookshelf. She pulled the Tales of Beadle the Bard down and started reading to him. As everyone gathered, there in the drawing room, they heard the door open and Ron came in, leading Parvati.

"Hermione! It's so good to see you," Parvati squealed. She rushed over and sat down beside Hermione. Hermione smiled at her. Contrary to what Ron thought, she was neither bitter nor angry at either of them. She was actually happy they had found each other. She'd known, soon after the battle, that she wasn't interested in Ron that way.

"So, is there anything interesting going on with you, lately?" Parvati asked curiously.

"Maybe, but it's too soon to tell. Give me a few weeks and I might have some juicy news for you." Hermione teased. Parvati squealed again. Ginny and Andromeda came to, leaving Harry and Ron on the other side of the room.

"So, mate, what's going on with her and that Snatcher? Should we be worried? He might be planning to hurt her or something." Ron said.

Harry shook his head. "No, he won't, if he knows what's good for him. I'm keeping a tight watch on Hermione the rest of the week. Then he'll have the chance to prove himself. They already have plans to meet, so I'm going to let him watch over her. He's already been warned what will happen to him, should anything happen to her. If he's as interested in her as he says, he'll take this weekend as an opportunity to show me he can be trusted with her."

Ron shook his head. He still thought it was a mistake, trusting the guy. He was a Slytherin, a Snatcher and a former death eater, to top it all off, he was a pureblood. Nothing good ever came from THAT combination! But they weren't asking his opinion and wouldn't listen if they did ask for his two cents!

Watching her now, Ron wondered how he could have ever thought they would be a good match. She'd known before he had, long before he had. Still, she did seem more like the old Hermione tonight than she had in the past couple of months. He just wished she could make up with her parents. He knew she missed them desperately. There were certain things a woman needed to talk about that could only be discussed with a mother/mother figure. They were being unreasonable about why they were mad at her anyway. He wasn't sure if it was the thought of the danger she'd faced with months on the run, or the fact that she'd actually fought in the battle of Hogwarts, or, like they swore, the fact that she hadn't told them how bad things were getting in their world but he thought they should be grateful for having a child who willingly put their safety before her own. But maybe it was a muggle thing.

Hermione went to bed that night, content with the knowledge that Harry had told her he wouldn't intrude on their weekend, unless it was an emergency, as long as she was diligent about studying for and taking her exams the rest of the week.

Scabior laid down that night and turned his head. He could still smell her perfume on his pillow. He went to sleep, smiling and nuzzling his pillow. He couldn't wait for the weekend. He wondered if Potter would let her out of his sight, as long as they stayed at the Leaky Cauldron or if he'd insist on her being 'home' every night. He'd have to ask because, if it was the latter, Potter likely wouldn't welcome him into their home.

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	5. compromises

Compromises

Harry and Hermione, with Ginny's help, come to an agreement. Harry is still suspicious but agrees to trust Hermione's judgment. Ron doesn't like the agreement. Hermione shocks and delights Scabior.

Please note: I have no beta, all grammar errors are mine as are spelling errors.

Hermione woke up, feeling great. She remembered Harry's promise the night before. If she 'behaved' for the rest of the week, he wouldn't interfere with her and Scabior this weekend. She needed to talk to Ginny. 'If she really was going to have her first time, this weekend, she needed to know what to do, how to act, should she tell him or not?'

She went downstairs. She hoped to find Ginny by herself. She'd forgotten that Andromeda, Ron and Parvati had all stayed last night. 'Ok, she could do this.' Ginny and Parvati were both experienced, Andromeda had been married. They'd all know how to help her.

"Good morning." She walked into the kitchen. It was only the ladies. Evidently, neither Harry nor Ron had woke up yet. She took a seat where she could watch outside the door. "I, uh, I need some advice." She stated a bit hesitantly.

"Come. Sit down, dear. What can we help you with?" Andromeda asked kindly.

"Ok," she took a deep breath, then released it. "I'm planning to sleep with Scabior, this weekend, and it'll be my first time. What do I need to do? How do I act around him? Do I, uh, need to tell him before our date?"

Andromeda and Parvati were shocked. Ginny just smiled, knowingly. "Sit down, my friend, let us educate you. First of all, yes, he definitely needs to know unless you want him to accidentally hurt you. If he doesn't know it's your first time, he won't know to be gentle, will he? Secondly, we need to find you the perfect outfit, this is a special occasion, right? You just act normal around him, sweetie, if you're nervous, he's going to be jumpy. Just let him take the lead, he knows what to do, all he'll want is for you to let him know if he's hurting you or pushing you past what you're comfortable with.

"Ginny, you seem to have brought Harry around to the point of finally trusting my judgment. Is there any possible way you can get him loosen the apron strings enough to let me stay at the Leaky Cauldron this weekend? Either that or he lets me bring Scabior back here. If neither of those work for him, well, we'll just have to make a break for the muggle world. I'm sorry, Ginny, I really am but he has to learn I'm a big girl, I really need to make my own decisions and Scabior is one on MY decisions, not Harry's."

Ginny could certainly relate to Hermione's frustration with Harry. He had pulled the same overprotective attitude with her the last two years. If he hadn't defeated Voldemort, he and she would still be broken up 'for her own protection.' It was just Harry's way of trying to protect what family he had left and the relatives he had gained upon entering the Wizarding World.

"I'll talk to him but you might want to prepare yourself to either vanish or spend the weekend here. More likely than not, he's going to want you and Scabior here where he can still discreetly keep an eye on you." Ginny warned her.

"That works but only if we get the same room and NO separate beds!" Hermione insisted. Ginny nodded, she'd do her best to get Harry to agree. He'd fight her the whole way but she would bring him around to Hermione's point of view.

"Thank you, Ginny." Hermione bounced up, ran around the table, hugged Ginny and ran out to get ready for work. Ginny was still laughing as she heard Harry and Ron finally make their way downstairs. Hermione greeted them cheerfully as she went back up to get dressed, having come down in her sleep clothes. Harry and Ron exchanged glances, confused. They came into the kitchen. Andromeda, Parvati and Ginny were sitting there, laughing and giggling.

"Hermione is in a good mood this morning," Harry said. They laughed harder. 'Ok, whatever they were laughing about had to do with Hermione.' "Ginny, what's going on with Hermione?"

"Harry, sweetie, we're going to have another house guest this weekend. Andy and Teddy, Ron and Parvati and Scabior." Ginny waited for the explosion.

"WHAT? SCABIOR! JUST WHEN WAS THIS DECIDED?! NO, NO, HE CAN'T COME HERE!" Harry shouted.

"Harry Potter, you WILL let him stay here. Either that or let Hermione stay with him at the Leaky Cauldron. If you're going to be unreasonable and say no to BOTH those options, they will disappear from the Wizarding world and not be back until they're ready to be found!" Ginny yelled.

Ron was shaking his head. "No, just no! She doesn't need to get mixed up with him! He's dangerous!"

"He is the one she wants, Harry! Ron, this has nothing to do with you, stay out of it! Harry, please, you promised you'd give him a chance! You said he needed to prove that you could trust him! Let him stay here or her at the Cauldron with him. If you don't, they will VANISH, Harry! You won't know where they are, if they're ok or anything! Let him stay here, then you'll know where they are and that they're ok. Please, Harry, just think about it." Ginny begged.

Harry sighed. He knew she was right. It was just so hard to stop being so overprotective of Hermione. In his mind, he KNEW she was more than capable of taking care of herself, she'd had to be. In a pinch, providing he didn't cheat, she could, no doubt, even keep up with Scabior himself. He just wasn't ready to let her go yet.

"Ok, ok, you're right. BUT they stay here! No venturing into the muggle world, Hermione could blend in but I'm not sure about him. They seem to enjoy the Riot, so that's where I'll expect to find them at any given time this weekend." Harry conceded.

Ginny knew she had to get him to agree to ALL Hermione's conditions or it was still a no go. "One last thing, Harry, they get the same room, with a double bed."

Harry's face paled, then flushed with anger. "No!"

"Yes, Harry, same room, double bed or all of us will stay in one room and you and Ron can share your old room again. What's the difference between us and them? She's a big girl, Harry. This is her decision. Let her fly, Harry, sooner or later, you have to let her go."

Harry huffed angrily. He pulled at his hair. Then he seemed to resign himself to the situation. "Ok, what the hell, sure, they can have a double bed. Damnit! Why does she need a double bed for? Seriously? She's only just MET him! She's already thinking of sleeping with him?!"

"Harry, grown woman, her own decision, any of this ringing a bell, hello? You said yourself he seemed to like her last year and she seemed attracted to him as well. You seemed to think he was reluctant to let her go at the Malfoys. Maybe he DIDN'T want to let her go back then. If Bella hadn't seen the sword, would she have even known who you were? She might very well have kept you and Ron, he might very well have been able to walk right out of there with Hermione. You said he hugged up on her and told her she was going to be his favorite. What did you expect from them meeting again, this time without a war separating them? I said this before, Harry, and I'll say it again. She seems to really like him and, from what you and her both have told me, he seems to like her. Give them a chance, Harry, he might very well be the one for her." Ginny said reasonably.

"You're right, argh, you're right. Ok, ok, they have to stay here with us, they can go to the Riot as often as they want to and they can have their blasted double bed!" Harry gave in. He knew Ginny would win the fight anyway, she usually did.

"Great, now you want breakfast?" Ginny asked brightly.

"Please, has she eaten today? I might as well go ahead and let her know this weekends conditions. But no matter what, Ginny, he hurts her and I'll beat his arse or kill him, I'm not picky!" Harry warned Ginny.

Hermione came running back downstairs, into the kitchen. She was dressed in her muggle scrubs and healer's robes.

"Hermione, I talked to Harry and this is what he decided." Ginny nodded at Harry to continue.

"I'd feel better about this weekend if you and Scabior would stay here at Grimmauld Place. I don't think you need to take him into Muggle London but you two can go to the Riot as often as you need to." He stopped talking until Ginny hit him in the ribs. He winced and continued. "Also, you can pick a room with a double bed or we can put your and Ginny's old beds together again, I'll leave that one up to you."

It was worth the painful concessions he'd made to see that brilliant smile on his sisters face. She had been sad entirely too much since the war ended. If this was what it took to get her smiling again, then he'd look up every bad boy she'd ever liked and parade them in front of her.

She flew over and grabbed him into a tight hug. Then she kissed his cheek and left, yelling that she needed to talk to Scabior. He shook his head. 'Ah, that girl, she was going to be the death of him someday.'

Ron silently listened to the argument. Ginny was right, it was none of his business anymore. Hermione was a big girl who could make better decisions than him and Harry both. He would learn to accept Scabior, even if he still thought Hermione was making a huge mistake with him. He leaned over the back of Parvati's chair and smiled at her. He was so lucky to have found her. They gazed at each other lovingly.

He and Harry followed Hermione to the Leaky Cauldron. Not too fast, but just giving her enough time to talk to him.

Hermione raced through the door and saw Scabior almost immediately. She almost danced over to him and waited as he took a customer's order. Once he was headed back to the bar, she spoke. "Harry has promised no interference this weekend. But there are conditions: you might not be too happy."

"It can't be that bad, can it? He is, at least, going to let us see each other." He smiled charmingly at her.

"We have to stay at Grimmauld Place. We can't go to Muggle London. We can go to the Riot as often as we want to." She ducked her head shyly, at this point," Also, no separate rooms. We get a double bed at Grimmauld Place."

He waited until she looked back at him, then he smiled." That works for me," he leaned closer, "especially the last part." He chuckled as she blushed.

"So, is there anything, in particular, I need to be worried about this weekend, love?" he asked.

"Fair warning, Harry says if you hurt me, he'll hunt you down and beat the hell out of you or kill you, and he's not picky about it." Hermione shrugged apologetically.

"I do have one thing to tell you, then I have to get to my next test." She led him into a dark corner of the room and pulled him close. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and tugged his hair to get him to bend down. "I want to sleep with you this weekend but it'll be my first time. Please don't be mad. I have to go now." She kissed him quickly and ran into the floo before he could respond.

Scabior was shocked, to say the least. When he'd caught her last year, she'd been living with the two boys for almost a year. He'd known she wasn't into the dark haired boy but the ginger had given off unmistakable signs of attachment to her. He'd thought, for sure, those two had been together, at least once. He'd wanted so badly to take her with him from Malfoy Manor. But then, one of his moron followers had to have that damned sword and his plan had gone to hell in a hand basket. Bella had threatened Fen and he couldn't watch his foster dad get killed, he just couldn't. He'd had to get Fen safely away from Bella, then he'd go back and get the girl. By the time he made it back, however, she and her friends had already escaped. Then they showed up at fucking Gringotts and busted the damn dragon loose!

The Dark Lord had been seriously pissed off about whatever it was they had been after. He hadn't been there but he'd heard the man was throwing the killing curse left and right. Fortunately, he had been too busy trying to, again, track down his little beauty. Then she showed up in Hogsmeade on her way to Hogwarts.

When he got there, she was inside, he was trapped outside. After seeing her standing with the ginger, as the bridge went down, he resolved to leave, just go away, let the heat die down a bit, then he could come back to England and NOT feel the urge to kill the ginger and take her away by force.

Now the little beauty had strolled back into his life and causally accepted him, even knowing he'd been a Snatcher, a Death Eater and was a werewolf. 'How had he gotten so lucky. Now, she had possibly handed him an even more precious gift: her first time.' He vowed he'd make it unforgettable. He hadn't realized he was leaning against the wall, grinning like crazy until he saw Potter and Weasley looking at him strangely. He smiled a cheesy grin and waved at them innocently. He had some planning to do!

Sorry for the late update. Technical difficulties with my tablet. I'd like to thank all the following people who have follow/favorites this story: airyella, Alana Fox, Btterflykiss69, D. A. Ravioli, Dindore, ElanaPaz, EmilyWoods, Evil Wanda, FrostGrace, Hidden Disguise, LeeshaMartinez, LuV3nZbl_u-hIm3, MarauderInSecret, Msmalloryreads, Nerdacus, Sudop9090, Sweetpea2100, augustmoon2, bookslover93, bunnyobelenus, kittie night, loukritia, lucyria, mistycouch20141, orangemavis, The-Raving-Cheshire-Cat, The Magical Platypus, illidrynstormrage, Janiya, magiknight, nideat.


	6. making plans

Making Plans

Short chapter, sorry. Just thought I's show a softer side of Fen and Scabior. Hermione saves a baby. Scabior gets shocking news.

Scabior couldn't wait until the weekend. Finally, FINALLY, he might have some private, alone time with his little beauty. It surprised him, in a way, that they would be at Grimmauld Place. But then, remembering how overprotective Harry was being, he shouldn't be surprised that the boy wanted to keep them close. He was just glad Potter had conceded this week, instead of next week, or he would himself be the target of Hermione's wrath. Next week, like it or not, he'd have to leave his little beauty as it was the full moon. He would make sure all this week and weekend to talk to her and hold her at every given chance. That way, she would know, for sure, that he wanted only to be with her and he would be back.

Hermione couldn't keep the smile off her face. She knew her co workers were all wondering what was going on as she rarely smiled or laughed at work. She was working in the nursery this week and couldn't help but pick up some of the babies. They were so adorable. She saw one bassinet off in the corner. When she asked a senior nurses about the child, she was horrified by the answer.

"That baby is going to a Muggle orphanage. His mother was bitten and impregnated by a werewolf, she had to live with the beasts for months, imagine that, before she finally managed to escape, she died in childbirth. Of course, no proper Wizarding family is going to want to be burdened with a monster, no matter that she was a pureblood. Her family has already signed off all the paperwork on it." The senior nurse answered, dismissing the matter.

Hermione couldn't stop herself. She walked over and looked at the baby. According to the tag, it was a boy. The baby lay quietly, not crying like the other infants. It was as if he knew he wouldn't get the attention he needed. She pulled the blanket away from his face and gasped at the most adorable little boy she'd seen since Teddy Lupin was born. He had dark brown, curly hair and lightly tanned skin. When he opened his eyes, they were a bright blue. He was already two weeks old. If they were sending him to an orphanage, they were taking their own, sweet time about it. Then again, maybe it had taken that long for the mother's family to decide to turn their backs on this adorable little child. 'How could anyone turn away from him?'

"Miss Granger, what are you doing? I told you, we don't mess with that one." The senior nurse was getting agitated.

"I'll take care of him. You worry about the rest of the children. He needs attention, too. If you or the other nurses won't hold him, I will." She picked him up and looked at the woman, defiantly. The baby reached a tiny hand out and grabbed her hair. He was quite warm but that could be because he was a born werewolf.

"You are so adorable, yes, you are. I wonder what pack your daddy was from? If your mum escaped, I wonder if that means your daddy is alive or not?" she wasn't sure about werewolf customs but she knew two sources that would have the answers she needed. According to the baby's chart, he was due for a feeding. She prepared a bottle, sat down in a rocking chair and fed the baby. 'They haven't even given him a name yet!' she thought, outraged at the fact.

It was near lunchtime before Hermione could bring herself to finally lay down the baby. She was headed out the front door when she heard her name called. "Hermione! Wait up!" she'd forgotten Parvati also was a trainee. "Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione! Harry, Ron and Ginny are going to meet us there." Hermione smiled as she thought, 'oh, isn't he going to love that!' They stepped through the floo in time to see Scabior turn away from the table nearest them. The others were already there. Scabior looked up and grinned at her. She smiled back and walked him to the bar.

"I have a few questions I need to ask you or Greyback, soon." He glanced past her. She turned and there was Greyback. "There's a baby at St Mungo's. His mother was apparently taken by a werewolf, bitten and became pregnant. She escaped and made it to St Mungo's where she died in childbirth. The baby is still there and her family has given up all rights to him. He's going to be taken to a Muggle orphanage. Have you lost any pregnant women from the pack, lately?"

Greyback shook his head no. "I keep a tight watch on all my members. She wouldn't have been a captive anyway. None of my wolves are allowed to bring a human woman to our compound unless she has willingly chosen to be there. The woman died, you say?"

Hermione nodded. "According to the baby's paperwork, he was born two weeks ago. The hospital has been keeping him, hoping her family would take him but they just came in, signed all rights away and left without ever going to even see the baby. He doesn't even have a name yet."

"Everything is arranged, he just has to be collected?" Greyback questioned.

Again, Hermione nodded. "Yes, all the paperwork is in order, they're just waiting for a social worker to pick up the baby, take him to a Muggle orphanage and drop him off."

Greyback shook his head. 'Not on his watch, damn it!' "When you get ready to go back from your lunch break, Granger, let me know. I'll go back with you. That boy is NOT ending up in a Muggle orphanage, not if I have anything to say about it! I'll take him home to Mary, she's been wanting another pup."

Hermione smiled as relief coursed through her. She'd been hoping he'd say that. Now that sweet little baby would have a loving home. She turned, put in her order, hugged Scabior and headed beck to the others.

"Guess what?" she squealed with excitement. "I just found a home for a little baby I've been taking care of today!"

Parvati squealed as well. "That little boy? Oh, I've been going in there to see him every evening, he's so adorable! Who's taking him?"

"Greyback is taking him to his mate, Mary. She's been wanting another baby." Hermione explained.

"Hang on," Ron said. "If Greyback is taking him, the baby is a werewolf?"

"Yes, Ron, the baby is a werewolf." Hermione said.

"You knew this?!" Ron whipped around, glaring at Parvati. "You knew and you tried to get me to let US to adopt him?!"

"Why should that matter, Ron? He's just a baby! He needed a home, parents who would love him! You're saying you wouldn't love him, just because of his condition?!" Parvati looked stricken.

Ron backpedaled rapidly. "O-of course not, that's not what I meant, I just-you should have told me! I wouldn't mind, we had a werewolf for a teacher, remember? I wouldn't mind at all, but you should have told me that, to start with, that's all!"

Parvati smiled happily at him. "I was going to just now but Hermione just found him a home. Will we be allowed to tell him goodbye before he takes him, Hermione?"

"Of course, he'll still have to sign a paper before they release the baby. We can tell him bye while we get him ready to go." Hermione was thrilled about the baby. Looking over, she saw Scabior and Greyback talking, he was scowling, petulantly. "Look, I think someone was the baby of the family until just now."

She and Parvati giggled. When Scabior brought their order, she stopped him. "Did Greyback tell you about the baby?" he leaned down on his elbows, clearly pouting. "Yeah, he did."

"Are you upset? About the baby? Or about me telling Greyback about him?" she looked at him searchingly. He didn't answer. "You ARE jealous? Aren't you?" Scabior snarled softly. She laughed and stroked his hair. "Greyback isn't going to forget about you, you know, you're still his baby, too." He scoffed. Harry and the others were hiding smiles. It was hard to imagine Scabior, the big, bad, cocky Snatcher, being jealous of a new baby in his foster father's life but he was showing clear signs of jealousy.

As their lunch hour ended, Hermione and Parvati got up to return to the hospital. To their surprise, not only Greyback but also Scabior, prepared to return with them. As they stepped out of the floo, he grabbed Hermione's hand. They went up to the nursery floor, Greyback went to do paperwork as Hermione and Parvati went to get the little boy ready. They pulled together a small bag of supplies until the baby was home. Before they made preparations, Hermione had gone in, picked up the baby and brought him out to Scabior. Parvati had parked Scabior on a couch in the waiting area. With no warning and without further ado, Hermione laid the little boy in the arms of the suddenly panicked Scabior. He stared at the baby, then looked at her, a little wild eyed.

"Don't worry, just keep an arm under his head and your other arm wrapped around him. Hold him against you and rock him." The girls stood over him until they were sure he had the baby securely held.

Scabior looked down at the little boy. "So, you're the one they're all fussing over, aye?" the little boy stared at him with big, blue eyes. Those eyes looked familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen them before. He grabbed Scabior's red braid. Scabior leaned back and stretched out. The baby laid his head down and Scabior found himself looking at the baby's hair. It was dark brown. It looked like it had a red tint on it. Scabior looked more closely. There was a small strand of red hair in the midst of the dark hair!

Greyback came storming down the hall. Scabior looked up and cowered before the dark, angry look on his foster dads face. Something or someone had pissed him off!

"Fen?" he asked tentatively. Greyback pulled up another chair. "Scabior, I got something to tell you, boy." He sighed. 'Damn those people all to hell!' "You remember when you still lived with your human family?"

Hermione and Parvati walked into the waiting room in time to hear the question. Neither Scabior nor Fenrir noticed them. Scabior nodded slowly.

"You had three sisters. Your father had mistresses. You were his only legitimate child." Scabior frowned at him. "One of your sisters was attacked last year. She'd been a captive of another wolf pack. Scabior, son, this is your little nephew, your sister's child. Your parents rejected him because of his dad. So Mary and I are going to raise him, with your help. You're going to be his big brother."

The look of shock on Scabior's face was quite comical. He clearly had NOT expected that announcement. "My nephew? He's related to ME? I thought his eyes looked familiar and, look, he's got the same red strand!" suddenly the baby in his arms took on a new significance to him. "My nephew." He smiled at the little boy.

"Scabior, he needs a name. What are we going to call him?" Greyback asked.

"Alex, we'll call him Alex." Scabior cradled the boy. "You like that name, Alex?" Alex looked up and cooed. "I think he does, aye, Fen?"

Fenrir smiled. "Yeah, I think he does."

Hermione gently cleared her throat. The two men stood up, Scabior gently cradling his nephew. "Hermione, come meet him. This is Alex, my nephew." Hermione admired the little boy, stroking his cheek and smoothing his hair.

"He looks like you, he has those same beautiful blue eyes." Hermione smoothed the blanket around his little shoulders.

"Look, that little strand of red hair, it's just like mine." Scabior had a soft smile on his face. "I'm a big brother. Hehe. I'll be the best big brother in the world." He whispered softly to the little boy. Hermione handed the bag of baby supplies to Greyback who laid a hand on Scabior's shoulder to guide him out of the hospital. They went back to the Leaky Cauldron to introduce Tom to Scabior's little brother, Alex.

At the end of her shift, Hermione was waiting for Parvati. They walked to the flop together as they waited for Harry and Ron. Hermione wasn't sure if Scabior would be at the Leaky Cauldron or not. Greyback probably intended to take both Scabior and the baby home to his mate. To her surprise, though, he was still there and he was still holding the baby. Hermione and Parvati both squealed and ran to him. They fussed over the baby until he opened his eyes and yawned. He grizzled at them for waking him up. Scabior laughed, now seeming quite comfortable with holding the baby. They both kissed the baby and told him goodbye, then Scabior and Fen walked into the floo to take him home to Mary.

To everyone who has followed/favorited this story: Airyella, Alana Fox, Btterflykisses69, D. A. Ravioli, Dindore, ElanaPaz, EleanorGee, EmilyWoods, Evil Wanda, FrostGrace, Hidden Disguise, LauraB90, LeeshaMartinez, LuV3nZbLu-hIm3, MarauderInSecret, Mommyof3muggles, Msmalloryreads, Nerdacus, Sudop9090, Sweetpea2100, Youko's Little Girl, augustmoon2, bookslover93, bunnyobelenus, gummyrayv2010, kittie night, loukritia, lucyria, mistycouch20141, nataliecalvert17, nideat, orangemavis, roon0, Danish Fantasy Girl, The-Raving-Cheshire-Cat, The Magical Platypus, hufflepuffhugs, illidrynstormrage, kat2287, magiknight,


	7. scabior returns

Scabior returns

Sorry. Short chapter.

Baby brother presents an unexpected problem. Jealous? Who's jealous, not me! Big brother Scabior emerges. Promises are made. Scabior doubts himself.

She hadn't seen Scabior since Monday afternoon. He'd gone with Fenrir to take Baby Alex to Mary. She'd thought he'd be back shortly afterwards or the next day. But it was now Thursday and she was worried that she might have made a mistake. What if he'd decided to stay with the pack and help with Alex? She'd never forgive herself if she had cost Tom his adopted son. The only thing that reassured her was that Tom, himself, didn't seem worried. It indicated that maybe he'd heard from Scabior.

She left for work twenty minutes early, just in case he was back. To her relief, he was emerging from the Floo as she came in the front door. As she saw the intense look on his face, she dropped her bag at the bar. He walked swiftly to her and grabbed her hand as he passed her. He pulled her to the back of the bar and behind the barrels. He lifted her against the wall and pressed tightly against her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing deeply.

"Merlin, I missed you!" he rasped. He was so very tempted to Mark her as his mate. At this time, though, the girl was more likely to hex his bollocks off than accept a Mating Mark from him. They were still basically strangers. It would be a while before he'd be brave enough to ask her to be his mate. He wanted to let her finish her training and get a start on her career because he knew how much it meant to her. He was very impatient but, for her, he could wait, even if it killed him.

"Oh, I missed you, too!" she gasped. He began kissing her like there was no tomorrow. She could feel solid muscle pushing her into the wall. He slid his hands under her shirt and inched up. She reached down and pulled them up, over the cups of her bra. She needed his touch, now! Hip to hip as they were, she could feel him hardening and, through the thin material of her scrubs, rubbing right where she wanted him to. She was about to tell him to discard their clothes, weekend be damned, when there came an unmistakable cough from behind them. 'Ugh,' she thought angrily, 'I'll kill him!'

Once more, Harry-the boy who fucking survived Voldemort, only to be in danger of dying by his sister's hand-Potter was behind them. Interrupting them yet AGAIN! "Oi, you have all weekend for that, Hermione! Come on, you promised you'd behave." He sounded as though he was laughing, the scrawny little blighter! She sneaked a peek over her would-be lover's shoulder and, sure enough, the boy looked like he was barely restraining his laughter, even worse Ron Weasley, the sidekick from hell, was also grinning broadly at them.

Scabior gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to calm his body down enough to turn around. He eased her down and refastened her bra as he straightened her shirt before stepping to the side and leaning on the wall beside her. She was absolutely fit to be tied, so he kept an arm around her. Just in case she really did decide to try and hex Potter, he wanted to be able to restrain her. She glared at Harry as he smiled at her. It occurred to Scabior that something had changed. The boy was no longer looking at him like he was the enemy. It never crossed his mind that Potter had seen him acting like a jealous child over an infant.

"Oi, Scabior! Get up here, Fenrir needs to talk to you and her, Potter as well!" Tom yelled. Scabior immediately slid by the boys to see Fen standing at the bar, holding the baby. He felt a twang of jealousy and involuntarily pouted at the sight of Fen, lovingly cradling the little boy. Tom bit his lip and hid a smile as Scabior scowled at the baby.

"We have a little problem." Announced Fen.

Scabior snorted. "It's little, all right." He muttered, sulkily.

Hermione giggled against his shoulder. His jealousy was downright precious to see. Fen smiled and rolled his eyes at her. "The week of the full moon starts Monday. We can't have him near us on full moon night. I think he was born in the wrong phase of the cycle. He won't be transforming, at least not any time soon."

Hermione looked confused. "Excuse me, wrong phase? Won't transform?"

"He'll be like Bill Weasley, darling, he'll have the appetite, habits and mannerisms but he won't have to worry about the change." Scabior explained.

"But, isn't he a natural born werewolf? I thought natural born were's always transformed." She stammered.

"And he mostly likely will, Granger, but even a natural born werewolf won't transform when he's this young, especially if he wasn't born close to the full moon. Now, if he'd been born this week or next, yes, he would transform with the rest of us. He wasn't. Two weeks ahead of the full moon means he'll possibly not start transforming until he hits human puberty." He told her. "In the meantime, he can't be around the rest of the pack because every last one of us transforms. If he's there, in human form, he'll be shredded before we realize what we've done. Therefore, since you and Scabior are well on your way to dating? I was hoping maybe you would watch Alex on the night of the full moon. I have a special cage that will hold him, just on the off chance I'm wrong and he does transform, but I seriously don't think he will."

"Of course, oh!" she turned to Harry, lifting a brow.

"Yes, we'd love to." Harry answered her silent question. "We'll have Teddy Lupin that night as well. He does transform, so we probably already have the same cage at Grimmauld Place. He began transforming shortly after his six month birthday. He was born about two weeks before the full moon as well."

Fenrir nodded, relieved that they were already slightly aware of the problem. Hearing about Teddy Lupin told him that Alex might possibly start his transformations then as well. He passed the baby to Hermione. She looked like a natural mother, holding the baby with no problem. He could see the wheels turning in Scabior's mind. He and Tom exchanged sly grins.

"Hello, baby, look at you! I think you've grown since I last saw you. I think you be might be a big boy soon. Yes, I do" she cooed at Alex. He seemed more alert, to her. He felt heavier than Monday as well. No doubt, if he was getting the attention he needed, he would be more alert to his surroundings. He gurgled and reached a tiny hand to Scabior. Scabior stared at him, warily, still uneasy around the child. He finally accepted him as it looked like the little boy might start crying. Harry and Ron were grinning like madmen behind him. Hermione shook her head at them, hiding her own smile. He was getting more used to the boy, squirming to get comfortable in his arms.

"Hate to break this up but you do have more testing today, Hermione." Harry gently reminded her. She kissed Alex, hugged Scabior tightly with a whispered "till tomorrow night" in his ear, and ran for the Floo. Ron followed her as Harry lingered.

"Sorry for interrupting you just now. On my word. From tomorrow night until Sunday night, no more interruptions from me. She has testing again next week so we'll have Ginny, Parvati and Andromeda to help with Alex and Teddy Lupin." He reassured both Scabior and Fen. He watched both wolves relax and knew he'd been right to assure them. He turned and followed his friends through the Floo.

"I'm beginning to get quite fond of that Potter boy." Fen remarked, idly, watching Scabior rock the baby. The little boy seemed fascinated with Scabior's red braid, constantly latching onto it. Scabior sat the child on the bar, carefully keeping him braced against him. The boy yawned as he reclined against Scabior's arm.

Scabior scoffed. "Like to kick his arse myself. I thought she was gonna try her luck just now. I was getting ready to save his life." Tom and Fen laughed. They'd seen the enraged look Hermione had leveled at Potter as she followed Scabior to the bar. The boy was seriously brave to laugh at her as he had. The Floo whooshed and a beautiful, petite woman stepped out. She came to the bar and ordered a butterbeer.

"Mary, how are you?" Tom asked respectfully. Fen's mate didn't leave the den too often.

"Hello, Tom, I'm doing good. I just wanted to see where Fen had slipped off to with our littlest pup. Did you get everything worked out?" the last question was directed at Fen.

"It's all set. The boy will be safe." She relaxed, watching her older pup learn how to interact with his young sibling. It reminded her of when Fen had first brought Scabior home. His older siblings had been wary of the young human their father had brought in. She laughed as the baby, who was seated, facing her, suddenly jumped as his eyes popped back open and Scabior jumped and grabbed him as well, thinking he was falling. He checked on him and offered him the end of his tie to chew on. The little boy ignored the tie in favor of wrapping his arms around Scabior's hand.

"How goes his fate with the little girl you were telling me about?" she quietly asked Fen.

"He hasn't managed to bed her yet, not for lack of trying, I might add. She has a highly protective little brother who keeps interrupting them, to the horror of his sister." He snorted, remembering Granger's face. "I have a feeling that status is going to change this weekend, though. The boy has promised them, no interruptions. He's fascinated with this girl. We'll be seeing quite a bit of her. I have the feeling he might want more but she's still training. She's going to be a healer. You know him, he'll not stand in her way."

Mary smiled serenely at Scabior. 'No, her pup wouldn't stand in his girl's way, he'd be right there every step of the way, supporting her.' "I look forward to meeting this young lady of Scabior's."

"She and her brother, along with some friends and relatives, have agreed to keep Alex for full moon. They'll have another older child who already transforms." Fen told her about Teddy Lupin and his grandmother, Andromeda.

Mary was very relieved to hear they already had experience with werewolves, as far as babies went. She'd been greatly disturbed when she and Fen first realized the baby might not transform with the rest of them, putting his life in danger. After all the pups she and Fen had already lost, both to Aurors and other werewolf packs, she couldn't handle losing another. It was all she could do to make herself let Scabior come back each time, and not keep him tied to her apron strings. The baby began to whimper and chew his little fist, a sure sign of hunger. She stood up, took the baby, kissed her now eldest pup good bye and left to go home, Fen right behind her after shaking hands with Tom and giving a protesting Scabior a huge bear hug.

Scabior sat back down at the bar, still feeling his ribs ache from hugging Fen. 'He loved him to death but, damn, the man's hugs were going to be the death of him!' He remembered Hermione's whispered promise and grinned. He also remembered it would be her first time. Seeing as he was quite bigger than her, he'd have to take care to be gentle with her. Of all the boys and men around her, it still amazed him that she wanted him to be her first. He wouldn't be able to avoid all of her pain but he could make it as pain free as possible.

"Hey, Tom, I'll be hanging out between here, Potter's and the Riot, this weekend, me and my girl." He rolled his eyes at Tom's sly grin.

"You like her, aye? Is it serious? Are you going to be together after this weekend?" he asked seriously.

Scabior sat, chewing his lip. "I hope so, I want to keep her, Tom. When we were back there, before Potter interrupted, I wanted to put my Mark on her, Merlin, so bad! But she might be in it just to get her first time over with, then move on to a normal guy."

"You are a normal, guy, don't ever say you aren't!" Tom fussed at him.

"Normal, yeah, Tom, I'm normal but for one week every month, then I'm a monster!" he sunk his hands into his hair.

"You are no monster! Now, get that thought right outta your head. That rich bastard hadn't the sense god gave a goose. His ignorance and stupidity threw you away. His loss was mine and Fen's gain. You think either of us has regretted a single day that Fen picked you up and brought you to me?! Not sir, not on your life, boy! We rejoice in every day that we have you! ANY girl would be the luckiest girl in the world to have you! If little miss missy can't see that, the she needs glasses and a bit of sense stuffed into her head!" Tom ranted. Scabior was smiling as he listened. It always made him feel better, knowing Tom didn't regret raising him.


	8. an unpleasant blast from the past

An unpleasant blast from the past.

Hermione saves a child. The werewolf pack expands. Scabior is confronted by a face from his past.

After his talk with Tom, Scabior felt more confident in his plan to slowly ease into a long term relationship with Hermione. He would take the weekend and see how the girl felt about him on Monday. Hopefully, she didn't tell him to bugger off. Now that the weekend was almost here and he was on the road to paradise with his little beauty, there were things he needed to get. First and most importantly, contraceptive potions were a must. She really would hex his bollocks off if he put a bun in her oven on her first time, especially if she wasn't interested in anything more than a weekend fling.

With that thought in mind, he went into Diagon Alley and bought what he thought should be a weekends worth of contraceptive potions, then again, judging by how wide the shopkeeper of the apothecary opened his eyes, he possibly might have been a little over optimistic. No matter, if he could convince her that she needed him in her life, what they didn't use this weekend could be put to future use.

While there, he noticed a potion he was curious about. He asked the shopkeeper about it and discovered it was a pain relieving potion, specifically geared to help pureblood virgin brides get over the pain of their marriage consummation. He looked at him quizzically.

"Basically, the girl takes it right before they screw and it helps her get past the pain of penetration so she enjoys her wedding night more." The owner explained.

Scabior cocked his head. "Does it interfere with contraceptives?"

"No, it's geared to blend into the contraceptive, make it stronger." The owner sensed he was very close to a sell.

"Is it just for purebloods or any witch? Do they take it just the once or what?" Scabior quizzed.

"Any witch may take it, it's mainly geared for the first time but some have been known to take it a time or two more, depending on how fast the girl adjusts to her husband's, um, length."

Scabior considered the potion. He actually was quite a bit bigger than his beauty, she might need a couple of these. "And they do blend with the contraceptive, they don't counteract them?"

"Yes, they blend in, make them stronger." The owner was pleased. Since they had come out, these potions had been his biggest seller so far. Scabior added three to his order, just to be safe.

After he left the apothecary, he went to Flourish and Blots. He browsed through the books looking for any new Potions, Charms and Transfigurations books. He found three, one of each. He figured he'd stick them in his bag and take them to Potter's with him. Then he'd lay them on a table where she'd see them.

He was about to go back to the Leaky Cauldron when he looked up and realized he was walking by Twilfitt and Tattings. There, in the window, was a beautiful scarf, almost but not quite identical in color and material, to the scarf he had found, worn and used to identify his lovely. He had to get it for her. After all, he had worn the other one until it literally unraveled and fell apart. He owed her the beautiful scarf. After purchasing the scarf, he made his way back to the Cauldron. He packed a weekend bag to take to Potter's, then laid down for the night, wishing it was already Friday night.

It was a long day at the hospital. A friendly Quidditch game had suddenly gone south and turned into a chaotic riot, sending dozens of injured bystanders and players both for treatment. All trainees had been called in as well as all healers. Hermione and Parvati were getting a sudden crash course in Emergency Medical Treatment. Most of the victims coming in were adults but they were horrified to see a few children coming in, too. That was where they were stationed. As they went from child to child, the oldest child was only twelve, the youngest was only two years. They had been trampled as the adults ignored them and rushed right over them in their hurry to escape the riot. It was almost midnight before either of them were able to leave. Knowing Ron was still at Grimmauld Place, Parvati just followed Hermione through the Floo and on over to Grimmauld. Hermione was so exhausted that she walked straight through the Leaky Cauldron without looking for Scabior. She seriously hoped it wasn't that busy tomorrow night. She didn't want to cancel their date.

Friday morning found her still tired, but she got up and dressed for work. As she headed downstairs, she was joined by Parvati who also looked quite tired. They went to the kitchen for a quick bite of breakfast before heading to work. They got to the Leaky Cauldron in time to see Scabior, coming downstairs. Hermione ran to him and hopped up, knowing he would catch her. Parvati laughed, it was so good to see Hermione happy again. She and Ron had discussed Hermione just last night. They knew how excited she was over Scabior and they were hoping he wouldn't let her down. Harry and Ron came in, just in time to see them lip locked. Harry looked at Tom, who was sniggering, and started to clear his throat, but thought better of it. He just checked their time and decided he could let them get this much out of their system right now. As they ran out of breath, Scabior and Hermione separated themselves. They felt much more confident about each other after that kiss.

They had one last hug and kiss before she went through the Floo. He shook Harry's hand. Somehow, he knew the boy had been a hair away from interrupting them again. He was grateful that he hadn't. He jumped behind the bar and began taking orders. It was going to be a long day. It was going to take forever for seven o'clock to get here.

Hermione and Parvati started their rounds by visiting all the children they had treated last night. All the injuries were minor and easily treatable except for the youngest child. She had been pushed down, trampled and suffered a head trauma. She was still in a coma. Even worse, all the children except her had been identified and their parents located and notified. Nobody seemed to know who the child's parents were, where she lived or anything.

She was a beautiful little redhead, Hermione didn't know what color her eyes were, but she was willing to bet they were a clear sky blue, to go with that hair. As Hermione was checking her pulse and vital signs, she noticed the little girl stirring. She looked up but the child's eyes were still closed. She touched the little girl's hand and put it back under the covers. When she went to turn away, she thought she heard a growl. She froze. 'A growl?' She slowly turned her head and almost screamed in fear. The child's eyes were open now and she was staring straight at Hermione. Her teeth were bared in a silent snarl and she was poised to pounce at the slightest wrong move. Hermione knew the wrong move would be to try and run, she'd learned that the hard way, last year after breaking the hold of Scabior's underling, she'd ran away from them. Scabior himself had run her down and pounced on her, his eyes a solid amber in color, much like this little one's eyes.

Instead, she slowly raised her hands and put them on the bed, where the child could see them. She recalled, from talking to Professor Lupin and also from reading somewhere, that a werewolf's eyes were only amber for one of two reasons: hunger or fear. "Good morning, sweetheart, are you hungry?" the little girl just stared at her, silently. "I'm Hermione, your nurse for today. You've been asleep since last night. We were worried about you. We'll get you some food and then I need to ask you some questions." She tensed as the little girl suddenly moved. It wasn't a pounce, though, she merely reached up and patted Hermione's hair. Hermione let out a small laugh. "Yes, my hair is a bushy mess. It's why I keep it tied and stuffed into a hairnet." The girl sighed and leaned against her. "I know, sweetheart, you're tired. People always think they'll get more rest in a hospital than they will at home but it's actually more difficult to sleep in a hospital. At least, that's what I think." She looked down, the girl's eyes were still amber but not almost glowing like they had been. She was slowly calming down as Hermione talked to her. Hermione knew she wasn't supposed to treat her, but it wasn't in her to deny the little girl treatment, it would be like refusing to treat Scabior.

She just had to get the child calmed down enough to drain the amber out of her eyes. That was the dead giveaway. If they saw her amber eyes, child or not, they would immediately remove her from the premises. "Do you know your mommy or daddy's name, darling?"

The little girl teared up as she whispered something. Hermione leaned closer. "What did you say?" "They gone, they weft me, they no want me no mowe, I's a monstew, why they weave me?" she whimpered. As Hermione suspected, she looked down into clear blue eyes. She teared up herself, remembering Scabior's story. "I don't know, sweetheart, but I know someone who will give you a good home." She decided she'd send a message to Greyback via Scabior, informing him she'd found another child.

She ran a diagnostic on the little girl and discovered that werewolves heal amazingly fast as there was no sign of a brain trauma now. She knew she didn't dare leave the child here, alone, now that she was awake. If someone but her were to approach the child, they and the child both would panic and the child would be thrown into an orphanage, the same fate that she had saved baby Alex from. She tried to think, 'what to do, what to do?' she was startled as the child tensed up again. Just then, she heard Parvati's voice. "Hermione, step away from the child. She's a werewolf." Parvati softly whispered. "I know, we can't leave her here. I'm trying to figure out how to get her out of the hospital, without anyone noticing. I want to take her to Scabior. Greyback will welcome a new child." Parvati stuck her head out the door and spotted the perfect thing. An empty laundry cart, just what they needed. They wrapped her up in some blankets, laid her inside the cart and told her to keep quiet. If they were caught, she would be taken away from them. The child laid her finger over her mouth.

Hermione pushed the cart down the hall and out the double doors. Fortunately, they were on the ground floor, so she wheeled the cart around the corner. She lifted the child out as Parvati wished her lick and took the cart back inside. She Apparated into the women's room at the Leaky Cauldron. She emerged and went straight to the bar. Scabior was replenishing some beers and turned around to the sight of his beauty, cradling a child.

Suddenly he sniffed and tensed. A low growl issued from his throat. "Granger, sit the child down! Slowly and carefully, please." Hermione tensed as the child stiffened against her. She looked down and the girl's eyes were wide and glowing amber. Chancing a glance at Scabior, she was shocked as his eyes were also glowing amber. He and the child were locked in a staredown and the child was terrified. Tom came around the corner and stopped short at the unusual sight. Hermione had put the child on the countertop and looked at Tom. He quickly walked to the Floo, motioning her to stay put. "Fenrir, get your arse to the Cauldron, NOW! We got a situation! Bring Mary and the boy."

Less than a moment after the call for help went out, Fenrir and Mary stepped through, Mary cradling Alex as she fed him. Fen froze at the sight of his oldest pup staring down a child. He slowly and carefully moved to the bar. The last time he'd actually seen Scabior's eyes glow amber without transforming, had been last year, chasing down Granger after she broke free from Bilby. He reached the bar and looked at Granger. She had no clue what the problem was. "Hey, boy, who do we have here?"

"I'm sorry, Fen, I didn't realize it would be a problem, bringing her here. I couldn't leave her at the hospital. They would have sent her to an orphanage." Hermione softly spoke, watching Scabior warily. He was eerily still, never moving his eyes away from the child. She was beginning to whimper in fear.

"Come on, boy, calm down now. She's just a baby, no need to fight. Where did you find this child, Granger?" Fen asked curiously.

"Last night at the Quidditch game, things went south and it turned into a riot. We had over two hundred people come in with injuries. There were five children admitted as well. She was the youngest one. I don't think they realized she was a werewolf, at the time, because she came into the hospital already unconscious. She only woke up a few minutes ago, which is when I discovered that she was. I knew I couldn't leave her there. If anyone else came into the room with her, she would panic and they would immediately remove her. So I thought I'd bring her here and send Scabior to you. I was hoping maybe you and Mary could take her in or maybe find a family who would take her in. I didn't take into account Scabior taking exception to her."

"No, it's not her he's taking exception to, it's the scent of the werewolf who bit her that he's taking exception to. One of the wolves who attacked him was at that match last night, Granger. I can smell him, too. Ten to one, Granger, that childs parents witnessed her attack and decided to leave her there." Fen explained, still watching his boy.

"She did say they left her, they didn't want her anymore and called her a monster. There's no bite marks on her but there are two deep scratches on her left leg." Hermione mused.

"He missed then. He was probably aiming for the artery. If they got caught up in the riot, he likely got knocked away from her." Fen shook his head.

"Does that mean she's in danger, he might come back for her?" Hermione was suddenly afraid for the little girl. Fenrir shook his head. "No, that would require him to actually take the time to do something, get up and track her down. He's too lazy to do that. It's one reason I named Scabior heir instead of him. He and his three whiny arse cowards are who attacked my boy. That's why their arse's were banished, on pain of death, from our pack."

They both jumped as Scabior suddenly snatched the girl up and held her tightly against him. She squeaked in fear as he rubbed his face in her hair, on her face and clutched her tightly. Fen smiled a huge smile and nudged Hermione. "Marking her, putting HIS scent on her. Making her acceptable." Hermione smiled. She was glad her wolf had accepted the little girl. He then passed the child to Greyback who also held her tightly, adding his scent to Scabior's.

Mary came forward then. She had silently watched the standoff, knowing her eldest pup wouldn't turn the toddler away. She watched as he pouted a little bit, even though he had Marked his scent on the child first. Her boy was used to having all their attention, now he was having to adjust to having little ones around. For so long, he had been the youngest one, tagging along with his older brothers. Now, he was the oldest one and evidently he wasn't very pleased with it. 

Hermione moved to the bar and grabbed Scabior's arm. "Is everything ok now? I have to get back to work before I'm missed." Quick as a flash, he pulled her across the counter and hugged her. "Till tonight, beautiful." He kissed her, then lifted her back across the counter. She smiled and hugged herself. "I'll be back soon." She raced back through the Floo, to return to work.

Scabior returned his gaze to the newest little pup for him to get used to. "Wonder what her name is." Mary passed Alex to Scabior and took the girl from Fen. "Hello, darling, what's your name?" the little girl looked up shyly. "Gwace."

"Grace, that's a beautiful name, would you like to go live with us, Grace?" Grace nodded, eagerly. Mary brought her back to the bar. "You've already met your new father, his name is Fenrir." She pointed at Fen. Then she turned around. "And these handsome boys are your brothers, little Alex and your big brother, Scabior." Grace glanced at him and Alex. He could tell that he'd scared her earlier. He wasn't sure how to explain that smelling THAT scent had automatically thrown him into fight mode, even though it was a little girl he was actually looking at.

He set Alex down in front of him. The little boy gurgled and waved his hands in front of him. Scabior poked his little tummy, gently, and the boy chirped out a little yip. He chuckled and ran a finger along the bottom of the boy's foot. The boy smiled a huge grin and held his foot up to him. Fen and Mary watched proudly. He was finally getting to where he would play with the baby.

Alex whined and rubbed his eyes. They noticed that Grace was also yawning. Scabior kissed the top of his little brothers head and hesitantly held his arms out to Grace. He fully executed the girl to burst out crying but, to his surprise, she came right to him. She hugged him around the neck and kissed his cheek. Mary took Alex as Fen held Grace close. They waved good bye to Scabior and walked into the Floo. Tom had silently watched the entire situation play out. "So, you're a big brother two times now. Wonder how many more siblings Granger will find for you?" he gently teased. Scabior snarled. "With any luck, no more. I'm not even used to them two yet."

He worked the bar and cleaned off the tables at six thirty, then went to get his bag, shrink it down and get ready to meet Hermione at seven. While he was upstairs, Hermione raced in, greeted Tom, ran through the door, letting him know she'd be back in a few minutes. Tom smiled and shook his head. Harry and Ron came through five minutes after her. They stayed to chat with Tom a few minutes before they went to get ready.

Sure enough, Hermione was back in a few short minutes, dressed to the nines. She glared at Harry and Ron meaningfully. They were all relaxing, waiting for Scabior when the Floo flared and three men came out. Tom tensed as they came to the bar. The Trio was surprised by the anger that he couldn't quite hide. It was so rare for him to be anything but cheerful with his customers. Something about these three was rubbing him the wrong way. The middle man came to perch on the stool beside Hermione.

"Where is he, Tom?" the man demanded imperiously. He reminded her of Lucius Malfoy. He turned to Hermione, wrinkled his nose and said, "So this is the mudblood he's sniffing after?" At that, both Harry and Ron tensed. Hermione defiantly stared the man down. She had never let Lucius intimidate her and damned if she'd let this bastard do it. Just then, Scabior lightly ran down the stairs and skidded to a stop at the sight of him. The man turned to him. "Michael, it's time to go home. Your mother is waiting to see you."

""She can wait till she rots, you, too! I AM home!" he snapped angrily. 'The bastard fucking abandons him, ignores him for years and now expects him to just act as if none of that ever happened!'

"It's time for you to marry and produce an heir. Your mother has chosen some of the best available purebloods for you to choose from. It's your duty as my heir." He ignored the brat's outburst. 'Once he had him married off and an heir produced, they could go back to pretending the other didn't exist, if that's what the little mutt wanted.'

Scabior stood there, completely speechless with rage. His eyes were a deep glowing amber. Hermione jumped up and went to him. She pressed a hand against each arm, hoping to keep herself in between him and, obviously, his father. She knew that now, hearing him speak. She'd been clueless at first because there was not a bit of resemblance between them. He must take after his mother.

"GET. OUT. NOW!" he finally shouted. "I'M NOT YOUR HEIR! YOU DISINHERITED ME, REMEMBER?! YOU DISOWNED ME, VOWED TO THE WORLD, YOU'D NEVER HAD A SON, YOU SICK FUCK!" he was trembling, on the verge of transforming.

"Scabior, let's go. It's time to go to the Riot." Hermione begged him, anything to get him away from this arrogant prick who seemed intent on pushing all the wrong buttons.

"All my son needs, mudblood, is for YOU to step away from him. I'll not have our bloodline tainted with your filthy blood." The man arrogantly commanded. Hermione slowly turned and walked over to him.

"Tainted? I would taint your bloodline with my filthy blood?" she asked softly. Harry and Ron were now standing with their wands out, held loosely. They were sniggering, obviously something was afoot.

"Back away, mudblood." He said. At that, Hermione balled her right hand, drew it back and punched him squarely on the nose. The punch knocked him off the stool as she'd put her entire weight into it. The two guards started forward, only to be met with the wands of Harry, Ron, Tom and Scabior.

"If you want him to live longer than ten minutes, you best remove his bloody arse from the premises or I won't swear as to how long it'll take Scabior to shred him." Tom hissed angrily. The guards grabbed their sputtering employer and hauled ass back into the Floo.

"By Merlin! That was bloody brilliant, Granger!" Scabior laughed as he picked her up and kissed her. She was smiling quite proudly but shaking her hand. He tenderly held it as he waved his wand and healed it.

She shrugged. "He's not the first arrogant prick I've punched, ask Harry and Ron. Actually, when we get to the Riot, ask Malfoy about third year and Buckbeak." At that reminder, both Harry and Ron fell up, laughing their asses off.


	9. the big day has arrived!

The big day has arrived!

More trouble from dear old dad, protection unit, discussion in the kitchen, Scabior and Hermione's alone time.

"So, that was your father? He acted like that was just an ordinary visit. Does he show up here, a lot, like that?" Hermione asked, curiously. Scabior gritted his teeth and didn't answer. Tom spoke up. "Yes, he shows up like that quite often. That's the first time he's ever shown that he realizes where his son now lives. He'll come in, with business associates, go to the bar, talk business and never once acknowledge the fact that it's his own son serving their drinks. Never once has he ever tried to introduce him or talk to him. He just acted like the boy was invisible. He'd play up the fact that he had no children, no heirs, nobody to leave his fortune and tile to. This, right in front of the boy, now you tell me, missy, is that the way to treat your own son, especially if you want him to produce his own heir?"

"No, that's no way to treat ANY child." She looked at Harry. That was how he'd been raised by the Dursleys. Invisible, unless he had a bout of accidental magic, then he was punished by starvation and abuse.

She grabbed Scabior's hand. "Hey, he's gone now. Let's just forget him, all right? It's Friday night, let's go to the Riot. Dance, drink and forget our own names." She pressed up against him, teasingly. "And let's not forget our other plans."

He grinned wickedly at her. "Aye, let's go, sweetie. I can't wait to get you on the dance floor." They shared a soft laugh, then headed toward the Floo. Harry and Ron stayed behind, talking to Tom, until Ginny and Parvati got there. Then they went through the Floo. As they came into the top level of the club, they realized a small dining section had been added on the second level.

As they descended, they saw Scabior and Hermione at the bar. Blaise had the little box out. Hermione took two pills out and handed one to Scabior. Harry narrowed his eyes. 'What had she just taken?' He waited until they had both downed a shot, and taken the bottle with them downstairs, before he approached the bar. He looked at Blaise with steely eyes. Blaise held up his hands and retrieved the box, showing him the stash of pills inside. "Her Muggle drug of choice, Potter. We keep her confined here and track everyone who approaches her. Or we were, until he hooked up with her." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Scabior. Harry sighed. "How long has she been taking them?" Blaise leaned forward. "She doesn't take them every time, only on nights when she's really tense and needs to take the edge of. I just like to keep a supply because she'll make this her regular stomping grounds for as long as she knows it's here, waiting." He held up the box. Harry nodded. 'That was the main thing, keeping her somewhere they knew she was safe.'

Downstairs, Scabior and Hermione were already dancing. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and his face was buried in her hair. In her five inch platform heels once again, she had no problem laying her head on his shoulder. He had the bottle dangling from one hand as his other hand kept her tight against him. He'd take a swig, pass it to her and then pull her close again. They seemed unconcerned that they were slow dancing to a fast paced song. They were in their own little world. "Damn, Granger, what was that you gave me? It's fucking great! I'm still fucking pissed at the old bastard, but I couldn't care less if he was in front of me right now." He said slowly, feeling like he didn't have a care in the world.

"That, my dear, was a Vicodin. It doesn't take your pain away, it just makes you forget you ever had any pain. These are what gets me through the weekend if I've had a tough week at the hospital." She said, dreamily.

Harry had just sat down beside Ginny, with an excellent view of the dance floor, when he heard the Floo whoosh out more customers. He looked up and groaned. He nudged Ron, who looked up and cursed. Harry stood and went back to the bar."Oi, which of you is the muscle around here? Ron and I might possibly need some backup."

"That would be me and Aidan." Marcus replied. "What's the problem, Potter?"

"See those two men who just came in? They came to the Leaky Cauldron earlier, with Scabior's birth dad. They were trying to take Scabior with them. Apparently, the old man is finally ready to acknowledge that he has a son. Unfortunately for him, Scabior turned him down. The man insulted Hermione and she punched him." At this bit of information, all four men behind the bar burst out laughing. Harry chuckled with them. Then he continued. "I think the old man might have sent them to try and grab Scabior again. If that little pill affected his ability to fight, he might need rescuing. Seeing as how Hermione might get caught in it again, I'd like to head them off before they ever get near them." Marcus nodded and Aidan followed him from behind the bar. Harry motioned Ron, who quickly stood and joined them on the way down the stairs. The two burly wizards were already shoving dancers out of their way, intent on reaching Scabior. Harry led the way, motioning everyone to stand back and be prepared to shield themselves from a fight. At that, people easily passed the word on and smoothly parted into a direct path to the oblivious Scabior and Hermione.

"You might want to rethink what you're about to do, sir." Harry said as he tapped the first wizards shoulder. The man whipped around and started to tug out his wand, only to face a dozen wands. Harry was pleasantly surprised that some of the other dancers were happy to help keep the would-be lovers safe. Little did Harry know, Scabior was a favorite of everyone there and Hermione was revered as a War Heroine.

The other man turned back when he heard the commotion behind him. They were standing in a literal ring of wands, each and every person there, prepared to defend and keep Scabior and Hermione safe. They cursed. They knew, if they returned without the 'thing', their employer would NOT accept any excuses. He'd curse first and ask questions later. But it was now impossible to grab 'it' here. They'd have to follow 'it' from here. They held up their hands and left quietly enough.

Harry knew, much as he hated to break his word, that when Scabior and Hermione were ready to split, he would have to intercept them and escort them home. Those two men weren't about to give up and he wasn't prepared for Hermione to be hurt in any kidnap attempt against Scabior. He told Ron that they would need to be ready to leave when their friend left. Marcus overheard him and told him to let them know when they were leaving. He and Aidan would join in, escorting them home, giving them extra protection. Harry nodded, accepting the offer.

Scabior and Hermione, totally unaware of the drama that had just taken place behind them, had now stopped dancing entirely, in favor of kissing right in the middle of the dance floor. They had emptied the bottle and he had wandlessly vanished it. He had his hands tunneled into her hair, holding her still. She had a firm grip on his hair, which he had worn loose, as well. She hooked a leg around the back of his leg and let him know she was ready to leave. He laughed softly as he turned her and steered them towards the stairs. They climbed up and went to the bar for a bottle of whiskey to go.

"Hermione, sweetie, gods, I hate to do this, but you can't leave here by yourselves." Harry cringed as he waited for the explosion. Hermione's eyes narrowed angrily.

"Granger, Scabior's old bastard of a dad sent his goons after him. They'll not bat an eye at hurting or killing you to get to Scabior. We're going to help Potter and Weasley get you safely home, come on, no arguing now. It's for your own safety, alright?" Marcus spoke up, indicating himself and Aidan. Hermione's eyes widened.

"When did that happen?" she asked.

"Just now. You and Scabior were in your own little world down there, had no clue they were even close to you." Blaise chuckled, he and Draco having watched the whole thing take place.

Scabior was amazed at that, he never let his guard down that much. Then, as he realized he didn't really care, he figured it out. 'That little pill she'd given him had thrown him for a loop.' He wondered if it would interfere with the contraceptive potion. 'They might need to wait till they came down from the pill's effect before they slept together.' He figured that might not be too bad of an idea as he was starting to feel sleepy. He glanced at her and noticed she was heavy eyed, as well.

Hermione nodded. She hadn't eaten anything, being too nervous about their date and the Vicodin was about to knock her out. From the way he looked, Scabior was about to go down for the count as well. Just so Harry wouldn't worry himself into an early grave, she would let him escort her and Scabior home.

Marcus and Harry took the lead. Ginny and Parvati walked just behind them, Scabior and Hermione behind them. Ron and Aidan brought up the rear. They all came through the Floo, two by two. Tom was surprised to see them back already. They appraised him of the situation. Worried about Tom's safety, Harry asked him to let him add some extra wards to the Leaky Cauldron's protective wards. Tom agreed, amused by how protective Harry was with him.

They exited the Leaky Cauldron and went to the Apparition point. Harry took Marcus through, Ginny and Parvati took Scabior and Hermione through, mainly so the two wouldn't splinch themselves, and Ron took Aidan through. They were almost to Grimmauld Place when Harry held up a hand, indicating them to look ahead. The two guard dogs were waiting for them. Ginny and Parvati cast shielding spells around themselves, Scabior and Hermione as Harry and the other men spread out and raised their wands. Just a few hexes had been thrown before the guards realized that two of the wizards facing them were more than ready to use Dark Magic against them, without any hesitation whatsoever. They apparated away. They would sooner be cursed by their boss than tell him they had lost a fight to a bunch of kids, more or less.

With the threat gone, they continued to Grimmauld Place. Harry led them in and they steered the two upstairs to the room Hermione had chosen earlier that week. After reaching the room, they just let them fall onto the bed. The two could sort themselves out after that. Then Harry and the rest went back down to the kitchens. He thanked Marcus and Aidan for their help and opened a Floo directly back to the Riot. The two Slytherins inclined their heads, accepted their thanks, bid them goodnight and departed.

"So, that's what a night of guarding Hermione is like. How do you do it and still get to work in the mornings?" Ron asked. Parvati rolled her eyes and shoved him. "Prat! He doesn't do it during the week! Only the weekends! That's when Hermione likes to go out!"

"Yeah, she keeps her partying separate from work. Monday morning to Friday afternoon is work. Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night are her party nights. I'm hoping, now that she's hooked up with Scabior, maybe she'll concentrate more on work and less on partying, especially if I can keep them here on the weekends." Harry said. Ginny looked at him. "Harry, sweetie, you know they're not going to come back here all the time, every weekend."

"I know, but I can try, can't I?" He knew they would eventually move on to their own place, if they stayed together, but until then she was still his sister, damn it, and if that meant letting her boyfriend live there every weekend, so be it. He WOULD learn to get along with Scabior, even if it killed him, and he WOULD make Ron learn to get along with him as well.

Upstairs, Scabior was sprawled across the bed, face up. Hermione was sprawled across him and they were both sound asleep. They had started laughing as soon as they were confronted outside by the guards and hadn't stopped until they fell across the bed. They didn't know why they found it so funny but there it was. Once on the bed, Scabior had taken his shrunken down bag and set it on the bedside table and enlarged it. They had gotten as far as removing their shirts before they passed out. If they had known what was being schemed in the kitchen, they might have been a little aggravated but for now, Harry was safely able to make further plans about how to con them into staying there on the weekends, at least for a short while longer.

He fully planned to use the very real threat of Scabior's real dad to keep them safe during the week and on into next weekend, if possible. He knew Hermione wouldn't lose interest in Scabior that fast and, judging from his first sight of her tonight, Scabior wouldn't be moving on anytime soon, either. He needed to talk to both Greyback and Tom. They would know how to help him in regard to Scabior's dad.

The man clearly didn't care that he had alienated his son years ago. All he was worried about was the next heir. Harry wondered if the man realized that if he didn't like his own son being a werewolf, he'd definitely not like any grandchildren because they would be part werewolf as well, though they might not transform. He shook his head at the stupidity of it. To his way of thinking, Scabior was doing the right thing, staying out of reach of his old man. He just hated that Hermione had gotten caught up in it. Judging by his words and actions, though, Scabior could care less that Hermione was Muggleborn.

Harry was, unknowingly, right. Scabior couldn't care less that his beauty was a Muggleborn witch. He didn't consider himself to be a pureblood anymore. He hadn't considered himself a pureblood since he went to Hogwarts and was ostracized from his classmates by having to disappear each moon. He knew they had figured out what he was and they all shunned him. It was another reason why he had done his best to fade into the background. Like Remus Lupin years ago, he was the only werewolf in his year.

Hermione was dreaming. There were feather light caresses all over her face. They slowly moved down her neck and onto her chest. There, they were joined by tiny licks. The soft caresses continued down her waist as she stirred. She felt her bra being removed. "Wakey, wakey, darling. Are we ready to play?" he whispered against her skin. She opened her eyes in time to see him lick her breast and flick her nipple. She gasped and instinctively arched her back. He smiled and moved to the other breast. She giggled and pulled him closer. "Well, looks like we might FINALLY get to play, hmmm?" his head dipped down as he put his lips to good use on her breasts, almost driving her wild. She'd never known how sensitive her breasts were until he started rubbing them and playing with them. He slid a hand down to the waist of her skirt. Fortunately it was a simple slide on and she raised up to allow him to slide it back off. He sat up and pulled her stockings and boots off, leaving the knickers for the moment. He also removed his boots. He rested his hands on the waistband of his pants and looked at her, clearly waiting to see if she wanted to go further. She was suddenly nervous, now that the big moment was here. She smiled nervously but encouraged him with a nod. He removed them and then her knickers. He sat in the middle of the bed and pulled her to his lap. He pulled her right against him. They stayed that way for a while, just kissing and getting into a relaxed mood. He ran his hands down her ribs, discovering she was ticklish. She laughed and poked him in the side, below his ribs, discovering he was also ticklish. They teased around for a while laughing and giggling before winding up with Hermione on her back, staring up at Scabior. He dropped down and kissed her again, this time running his hand down to the inside of her leg. He gently pressed against her core. She reached down and pressed his hand tighter against her. She drew her legs up to allow him better access. He drew her pelvis up and put her legs over his hips. Before they went any further, he reached into his bag and drew out two potions. "Just as a precaution, darling, I don't think either of us are ready for children yet." When asked about the second potion, he explained how it worked. "Hmm, I'll let you know how effective it is, then." She said with a smile. She was glad he'd thought of potions because she'd not given them a single thought. It let her know he'd carefully planned this out. After she drank the potions, she pulled him closer and clenched her hands in his hair. He was more than willing to kiss her again, then moved back down to her chest. He reached back down and pressed his hand against her again. She clasped his hand with hers and showed him how she liked to be rubbed. He smiled against her breast and set to rubbing her slow and deep. She threw her head back and moaned loudly. She arched herself against his hand, trying to urge him to go deeper. He rubbed faster and harder. She screamed as he sent her over the edge. He watched her intently as she panted, trying to get breath back into her lungs. He moved to rub himself against her, laying her hand against him. Her eyes widened at the length she was feeling. He let her rub up and down. He sucked in a deep, careful breath as she guided the tip inside her. 'Gods, she was TIGHT!' he was afraid he was going to hurt her, even with the potion being taken. She pushed her hips against him, impatiently. He pushed inside her, an inch at a time. He heard her gasp and tense up. Though it killed him, he stopped and let her adjust to him. 'She was tighter than anyone he'd been with before. Then again, he'd never been a girls first time before.' Finally she relaxed again and he took the plunge and went to the hilt, figuring to get the worst of it over with. She gasped again and whimpered slightly. He closed his eyes, hating that he'd caused her even the slightest pain. "I'm sorry, darling, so sorry." He kissed away the tears that slipped from her eyes. She didn't want him feeling sorry. This was what SHE'D wanted, after all. She'd known there was no getting around the pain. It hurt more than she'd thought but she suspected that was just because of his size. And he couldn't control how big he was, could he? It might have hurt even worse had she not taken that second potion of his but she could already feel the pain ebbing. She thought it was possible she might need another of the second potion he'd given her but she was going to adjust if it was the last thing she did. She didn't want HER Scabior feeling guilty and staying away from her the rest of the weekend, like he very well might try to do. "Nothing to be sorry for, I knew going in that it was going to hurt, there was no getting around the pain, you know that, too. The pain is already going away. That little magic potion of yours helped. Now, are we going to finish or what?" she asked. He cuffed out a light laugh. He drew back then plunged in again, at first slowly to let her catch up and get in rhythm with him. Then faster as they were caught in the feeling of rightness, that flowed through them both. As they rode the wave of desire over the edge, she screamed and bit him. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and moaned himself, glad he'd put a silencing charm on the room before waking her. She let her arms and legs fall limp. She felt as though she had literally melted where she laid. She opened her eyes and turned toward him. He was shivering on top of her. He pulled up a comforter laid at the foot of her bed, covering them both. "Darling, I'm glad you're not a wolf and I'm not a biter. I'm also glad I warded this room with a silencing charm. You, my lovely, are a screamer." He chuckled breathily, still trying to catch his breath. She blushed shyly as she sniggered. "Ok. You explained the last one, why the first two?" he stroked the hair out of her face. "If you'd been a she wolf, you'd have shredded me, instead of just biting. If I was a biter, I very well might have slipped and put a Mating Mark on you. I didn't," seeing her alarmed expression, "but, gods, I was tempted to!" she wound an arm around his neck. "You wanted to put a Mating Mark on me?" he nodded, sheepishly. She hugged him tightly. "Wait until Monday morning and we'll see how we feel then. I already know I'll want to see you again next weekend, unless you have other plans." He frowned. "Next week is full moon, darling, I'll need to be away until Thursday at least, Thursday night is full moon. After that I should be safe to be around you. I'm usually sore a day or so after the change." She pushed him over and straddled him. "Will you come here, Friday night after you get back? I know, you'll want to check in with Tom but afterwards, will you come on over here? We can have a quiet weekend. Maybe keep the babies, give Fen and Mary a day or two to recover as well. I haven't had a chance to see big brother Scabior in action yet." She teased. He grinned up at her. "You'll not let me live that down for a while, will you, being jealous of them?" she shook her head, covering her mouth as she tried to hide her laughter.

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	10. messages and an understanding

Messages and an understanding.

More meddling from dear old dad, Scabior and Hermione clear up a misunderstanding and Scabior's mother enters the picture. How will it end? Who knows.

This is the second story of mine that has taken an unexpected twist. I seriously didn't plan on having a villain in this story, after all Voldy's already dead, but dear old daddy Scabior seems intent on throwing himself into the story as a villain. Good luck with that, I guess, lol! Hope everyone is enjoying this twisted little tale!

They played the rest of the night. If hard pressed, Hermione wouldn't have been able to name when they finally gave in and slept. She did know it was in the early hours of Saturday. By the time they woke up, they could tell it was late morning or early afternoon. They got up to go downstairs. Scabior had his pants and vest on but was barefooted. Hermione had his dress shirt on and was also barefooted. They came down stairs and entered the kitchen. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Parvati and Andromeda were already there.

"Good morning, sleepyheads. We were wondering if we were going to see you today." Ginny teased. Hermione turned red but smiled, hugging Scabior's arm.

There was a package on the table. Harry nodded at it. "Your old man works fast. That showed up an hour, with _that!" _ He nodded at a regal looking eagle owl. Scabior took one look at the owl, cursed loudly and hid his left hand in his pocket. Hermione looked at him questioningly. "Doll, you let that _thing _flog you as many times as the fucker has flogged me, you'd be hiding your hand, too! I don't wear this glove to hide my werewolf scar! Fucker has almost took my bloody hand off before!" Hermione looked at the owl, wide eyed. The owl looked back and snapped its beak at her.

Scabior moved cautiously towards the package. Just as he reached for it, the bird lunged at him. He snatched the package, whacking the bird with it. "Back! I'm not a little kid with a play wand anymore, bird! I'll kill your arse!" the owl screeched at him. He opened it and tipped the contents out for all to see. It was a dozen pictures of different witches, British and foreign. With them was a note. It was short, sweet and to the point.

"Michael, pick one. All arrangements are made. All you have to do is show up, say the vows, bed her and get her with child. After that, you're free to go your own way. Your father"

Scabior burst out laughing. He laughed so hard, he was leaning on the back of a chair to stay upright. "Damn, Potter, you're right. He works fast. Too bad all his hard work is going to waste." He whirled all the photos into the air, muttered _incendio, _and caught all the ashes inside the package and resealed it. He flung the package toward the owl. "Give my sincerest regards to the old man, bird!" the owl screeched angrily, took the package in its beak and flew out.

Scabior slumped over the table, just staring at the surface. Hermione hesitantly laid a hand on his shoulder. He reached up and caught it with his.

'Sorry, sweetie, contact with the old man always tries to get me down." He straightened, turned and pulled her into his arms. She snuggled against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Harry, who had been cooking breakfast, put two plates on the table in front of them. "Come on, you two. We can figure this thing with Scabior's dad out later. Right now, eat. You have plenty of weekend left." He sniggered as Hermione giggled. Scabior laughed and sat down. "So, we're going to be babysitting Teddy Lupin, Grace and Alex, correct, Hermione?"

"Yes. Fen said he could bring them Wednesday night when he comes to collect Scabior. We'll meet him at the Leaky Cauldron. He'll have special cages, like Ted's." she saw Scabior scowling. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just hate to think about little kids having to be locked away for the full moon. I know they have to be, I just don't like thinking about it." He shrugged at her. Hermione thought that sounded reasonable.

As they ate, the eagle owl suddenly swooped back in and dropped another package into Scabior's plate, diving at him screeching. "Argh, get lost, you great bloody beast! I swear, I'll kill you before you get back out that blasted window!" he pulled his wand and aimed a stinging jinx at the owl. It screeched and flew out. "Bloody arse bird!" he slumped, staring at the package. "OI, Potter, what you wanna bet, it's another load of witches, aye? He's not gonna give up, is he?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope, sorry, Scabior, I just don't see him giving up anytime soon."

Scabior cursed as he did, indeed, dump out another load of female witches. Again there was a note. "Michael, choose or I will choose for you. Your mudblood has to go. I'll not have her dirtying up our line. Your father."

They all held their breath at the furious look that appeared on the young Snatcher's face. He was breathing heavily. Harry noticed with alarm that his eyes were glowing amber. He caught Hermione's eye and motioned to Scabior. He took his wand, put it to his temple and drew out a memory. He took a napkin, transfigured it into a vial and put the memory inside. Then he wrote a note of his own.

"Are you sure you want me reproducing, old man? Do you know what you'll be unleashing on society if I reproduce? I don't think you do! This is what you disowned me for! This is what ANY of my children will be! THIS IS WHAT YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE, IF I'M THEIR DAD!" he again burned all the photos, put the memory and the note inside as well as all the ashes. Once again, he sent the owl away. Then he closed his eyes and breathed. They watched him do a silent count. When he opened his eyes, they were, once again, blue. A fact Hermione noted with relief.

Scabior laid back in his chair as he looked around the room. He sat up alertly, "What's that?"

Hermione followed his gaze. "That's a Muggle picture."

He frowned, "It's not moving. Why isn't it moving?"

She and Harry laughed. "Muggle pictures don't move. They stay in the same position all the time."

"HUH! Well, that's just boring!" he said, rolling his eyes. The others laughed at him. Hermione impulsively jumped up and grabbed the camera off the mantle. She walked to his side, said his name and snapped a picture as he turned to answer her. She took the Polaroid, shook it and laid it on the table in front of him. He stared in awe, watching the picture develop before his eyes. As soon as it was fully developed, he turned his attention to the camera. She showed him the viewfinder and which button to push for a picture to take. He grinned and grabbed the camera, handling it soft and easy. He then took a picture of her, laughing as he played with the camera. Harry and the others watched, amused by the two of them.

It had been over two hours since Scabior had sent his own message back. The eagle owl swooped back in, startling everyone and dropped a rolled parchment in front of Scabior. He then landed in front of him, clearly he had been ordered to wait for an answer.

Scabior sighed and picked up the parchment, breaking the seal and opening it. It was a letter from his dad. "Fine, if you don't like any of my choices, pick your own. Dad." He rolled his eyes, then he spotted the picture on the table. He knew he already wanted to give her a mating mark. It wasn't that much more of a stretch, marrying the girl. He wasn't about to let her go anytime soon, she'd be lucky if he EVER got bored with her! He picked the picture up and swirled the words to form "My choice." He rolled it back up, looked at the owl and handed it the letter. "Don't come back if he says no or I'll be sending you back to him in pieces." The owl blinked at him, unimpressed at the threat, and left.

The others were watching him closely. "Don't worry, Potter, even though I hate THAT owl, I still wouldn't kill him and he knows it. One of his owlets was my owl when I actually lived at home. I called him Keen Eye. He was a snowy owl, I'm told you also had one during school, Hedwig? I wasn't allowed anything from home after I was thrown out. Tom tried to get in touch with him and tried to speak to him every time he came to the Cauldron. Nothing. The old man might as well have NOT had a kid for all the notice he took of me after all that." He laid his head down on the table, suddenly feeling tired.

"What about your mother? Did she try and contact you in any way?" Harry asked.

"I don't think Mum wanted to give me up. After Greyback brought me to Tom, a suitcase full of clothes was sent to him the next day. No note, no anything but it was MY clothes because I recognized everything. Ever so often after that, right up till I went to Hogwarts, there would be a house elf come by and drop off a gift box full of cakes or candy. They were always directed to give the box to Tom, for me."

"She was very closely watched, my mum. My nursery elf told me all about my mum and dad. He stole her from the wizard she really loved. Her dad and his dad made arrangements and married her off to my dad. With all the fidelity runes carved all over her ring, when I was born looking nothing like him, he still made them test me, just to make sure I was actually his kid." Scabior scoffed. "As if she would even be able to put a foot wrong, the bloody bastard! He never once, that I can remember, came to my nursery. She did, she would rock me to sleep sometimes. Tell me stories. Play princess in the castle and I'd be the brave knight in shining armor, come to save her." Hermione smiled at that image. Harry was rapidly seeing, there was much more to Scabior then he'd thought. "Has she tried to contact you lately?"

"No, I'm told that after Voldy fell, the rich bastard distanced himself from anything and everything having to do with the Dark Lord, in an attempt to keep himself out of Azkaban. Apparently it worked, since the fucker is still walking free. I can only imagine that he tightened his grip on her to the point that she probably can't even leave the house anymore, much less stay in contact with me. During the war, I'd get a note, it was only like once a month, ever two months, sporadically here and there. No name but always wishing me the best of luck, telling me to take care of myself, and every time, at the end, there would be a little spray of hearts come off the note. I don't know, for sure, that it was her but I like to think those little notes were her way of watching over me." Harry smiled. All he had was a photo album full of pictures but he already knew he'd been loved. Scabior's mother was still living and, yet, he didn't have that same assurance about her.

"Listen, if your old man keeps pestering you, we'll figure something out BUT I want to make sure he lets you start seeing your mum again, would that work for you?" he asked Scabior. The young man nodded and smiled. It was one of a very few Harry had seen lately. He was entirely too serious for his own good.

They waited to see what happened now. They had expected the owl to return in just a few minutes with a resounding NO! As minutes turned into hours, they slowly forgot about the matter, thinking Scabior had finally managed to shut him up. They all moved to the sitting room, Hermione and Scabior sharing an armchair. They were reading the newest updated version of Hogwarts: A History, when the eagle owl soared in from the kitchen. He landed on Hermione leg and gripped it tightly enough to steady itself. He groaned, took the note and unrolled it. "Consider yourself engaged. If it has to be a mudblood, a mudblood it shall be. Your mother wishes to meet her. Arrange it. Your mother awaits the owl. Dad." He looked at Hermione to gauge her reaction. It honestly shocked him that his dad had given in so easily. Too easily. There was something cooking in the old man's head. Scabior could almost guarantee that. It smelled like a trap to him.

Hermione read the note. "Engaged? What's he talking about?"

"Earlier, when I sent him that last note and your picture, I told him this was my choice. He took me seriously." Scabior cautiously told her.

"You sent him my picture? But why? We hardly know each other, granted I'd like to change that, but you sent him, MY picture? Does that mean you want to change our status as well?" she hardly dared to hope. 'Was he just playing an evil game of keep away with his dad or was he really serious about her?'

"I don't want this weekend to be the end of us, Granger, I want to know that I can stand by your side and you won't be ashamed of me being a werewolf, of me being beside you period! I already told you I was ready to put a mating mark on you this morning, darling. What did you think that meant?" he softly laughed. Hermione smuggled happily into his arms and kissed him on the cheek. "Shall we tell Harry that we're now engaged?" she giggled.

"Oh, gods, not till I have a ring on your finger, sweetie." He held her tightly.

"I'm not sure about arranging a meeting yet. The old bastard gave in too easily. This isn't like him. I've watched him wrangle enough business meetings at the Cauldron. He does not give in that easily." Scabior needed to talk to Harry, but without Hermione hearing him. He used the excuse of needing the loo, caught Harry's eye, nodded toward the kitchen and left.

Harry excused himself and went to the kitchen. Ron having seen the silent exchange, followed as well. Scabior handed Harry the note, watching as the boy savior read it. When Harry looked up at him, he began speaking. "I already told her this morning that I just kept myself from giving her a mating mark. I was going to see how she felt about me Monday morning. I already know I'll be with her for as long as she wants me around, Potter. I'm not asking you to accept me right now. I'm just letting you know how I feel. In spite of that note, I don't trust the old man. Not with Hermione or with my mum. I do want her to meet my mum but not if it's going to put either of them in the slightest danger and I know _you _don't want Hermione in any kind of danger."

Harry thought about it. They needed some way for Hermione and Scabior's mum to meet, without being in danger. His eyes lit up. "The Leaky Cauldron! They can meet there. Your dad can bring your mum and some guards. You, me and Ron, along with Fen, Marcus and Aidan can be there as Hermione's guard dogs." Scabior thought, 'familiar ground, familiar people, yeah, that would work.' He accepted the meeting. Now to send a note back to the old bastard so, hopefully, he would leave them be the rest of the evening. When he went back to the sitting room, the owl had moved from Hermione's leg to the arm of the chair. He scrawled out the meeting, asked her a good time and sent the message back.

He lifted her up and sat down with her, in his lap again. As he noticed her starting to shiver slightly, he conjured a blanket for them. They had just began reading once more when the eagle owl returned yet again. This time, though, he had no note or package, unless one counted the snowy owl he was leading to Scabior. The snowy owl did have a note attached to its leg. "For you, my son. Keen Eye has missed you and so have I. I'm looking forward to meeting your young lady. Your mum, Annemarie." With that, a small spray of hearts did indeed come off the sheet of paper.

Scabior whooped and laughed upon seeing the snowy owl. Hermione smiled. 'This must be Keen Eye.' She was proven right by him shouting the owl's name. As for the owl, it was jumping around, hooting excitedly. It then snuggled itself against him. With a soft little 'hoo', it fell asleep against him. "Hermione, look! My mum sent Keen Eye! Bet that got the old man's goat!"

"So, with all this happening, Harry, I don't suppose there's any way of us going to the Riot tonight, is there?" Hermione asked Harry. Harry took his time answering. "Actually, you can go there but it's going to be all of us and you let us know when you're ready to leave. Scabior doesn't trust his dad and neither do I. With you meeting his mother tomorrow, I need to ask Marcus and Aidan tonight if they will meet us tomorrow for extra security. I know you aren't happy with all the strings attached to you but I'm just trying to keep you safe and I believe Scabior is with me on this one."

"He's right, doll. I don't trust the old man to let this go so easily. He might be giving in for now, but I don't trust him to not try something at that meeting tomorrow. I just want you and mum to be safe. I can't say I know HIM too well but I know his kind too well. Believe me, sweetie, Lucius Malfoy may be mean but he's got nothing on my old man. At least, he wouldn't hurt Narcissa for anything. I can't swear the old bastard wouldn't try and use mum to hurt me or you, if he thought he could get away with it." Scabior didn't think his dad would use his mum like that but, like he told Hermione, he didn't know the old man well enough to be sure. They would just have to wait and see.

At six o'clock, Hermione dragged Scabior up the stairs to get ready. Judging by the way they were laughing and kissing their way up, the others decided it might be a while before they came back down. In the meantime, Harry went to the Floo and called Fen to let him know what was going down tomorrow. Fenrir came through and was absolutely flabbergasted at the news that Scabior's dad had finally made contact with his son. "Merlin, all this time wasted and NOW he wants to get in touch?"

"It amazed Scabior, too. Especially when his dad sent two different packages of pictures. British and foreign witches. Told him to pick one or he'd pick for him. Pissed Scabior off and he sent Hermione's photo. Said that was his choice. His dad has 'accepted' it and there's a meeting tomorrow for Hermione and his mum to meet. Scabior doesn't trust the old man to let the meeting go peacefully. He's sure he's going to try something tomorrow. It'd make him feel easier about the meeting if you were there, too. It going to be at the Leaky Cauldron." Harry filled him in on the time and Scabior's feeling about the whole thing.

"I get why he's so worried, Potter. He's right. As far as blood purity and supremacy over the Muggles and Muggleborns go, Lucius Malfoy has nothing on Malaki Scabior. The man is ruthless and didn't mind selling his own son out to Voldemort. Voldemort had no clue about the boy or his connection to me until the rich bastard kept throwing his name out. He basically handed him over and told Voldemort to do as he pleased with him. He certainly didn't mind seeing him punished. More often than not, he would be one of the first ones to jump in with a curse every time the boy stepped out of line."

Harry closed his eyes. After hearing that, he could see now why Scabior had acted the way he did last year. Someone who had nothing left to lose, except a foster parent who was a werewolf, Scabior was only concerned with Fen's safety at Malfoy Manor. He hadn't yet become attached to Hermione, which was exactly why he hadn't attempted to take her with him.

Fen left after arranging to meet them at the Leaky Cauldron the next morning. As Harry went back to the sitting room, he glanced up the stairs and Scabior and Hermione were coming downstairs, still wrapped up in each other. He smiled and went to alert everyone else. Andromeda told them good night and took Teddy Lupin up to put him to bed.

They allowed the lovebirds to get far enough ahead to pretend they didn't have an escort, before they took off themselves. By the time they went through the Floo from Tom's to the Riot, Scabior and Hermione had already made it to the dance floor. They could tell, by how they lifted their head and looked around ever so often, tonight hadn't been a Vicodin night. They were alert for any trouble tonight. As Harry went to the bar, the Floo whooshed. He looked up and cursed. Again, the goon squad had shown up. Marcus and Aidan were waiting and watching. The goons saw them looking and came to the bar. "No trouble, tonight. The boss wants us to keep watch on his boy."

"The boy is well protected both here and away." Harry said, coldly. Marcus agreed with him. "The boy doesn't leave here, unescorted. We have no need of your services." The goons saw how both Harry and Marcus had a wand out and yielded. "If it were up to us, the thing wouldn't get a second thought but she worries, therefore he's forced to act."

"She? Scabior's mother? Does she know you refer to her son as a THING?" Harry asked angrily. Aidan, Draco and Blaise had drifted over, casually drawing their wands. They stood to each side of Harry and Marcus. Ron had stood and was strolling over from the dining area.

The goons were digging themselves deeper with each word. "Who cares what she thinks, she's just a little French bint, only needed for her daddy's money. She only ever produced the one little blighter. If it wasn't so hard to find a suitable bride, the boss would have had her taken care of years ago."

"I think it's time for you to leave. NOW. Tell your boss his son is safe, with his friends and family." Draco spoke, angrily. As the one with the most income invested, he was regarded as the main owner, while the others thought of themselves as shareholders. Downstairs, Scabior looked up and nudged Hermione's arm. They started up the stairs. Ginny and Parvati were under strict orders to keep them away from the bar. They sat down with them to watch the show.

The Floo whooshed again. This time, it was a beautifully dressed woman who came down the stairs. She stopped and stared. "Michael, my little knight, is that you?" Scabior froze as he saw the woman. He slowly stood up. "Mum?" he whispered. "That you, mum?"

She ran to him and threw her arms around him. She was as petite as Hermione, without the five inch heels to compensate. "My baby, my baby! Michael, you've gotten so big, oh, my dear, look at you! So handsome, my baby, my boy, you've no idea how much I worried about you! I couldn't write you, see you or anything! HE wouldn't TELL me anything, either!" From the fierce look on her face, it was obvious who she spoke of. Hermione was glad to see the woman loved him as much as she had hoped she did. She knew now it would have to have been Scabior's father or his sister's birth mother who had rejected baby Alex. This woman would have taken the boy in a split second.

"I know I was supposed to wait until tomorrow to meet her, but I couldn't wait that long to see you. I came to warn you, darling, be careful tomorrow," she looked at Hermione, "both of you. Something is going on. I don't know what he's planning, but there have been quite a few men in and out of his study tonight. I've had an elf listening and there is something not right about the meeting. He has planned something bad. I don't know what, the elf couldn't hear that, but what she heard was enough. I had her remove me from the house. I had spied on him enough myself to hear him mention you and this place. So I followed them." She nodded toward the two goons.

"Mum, stay with us, don't go back." Scabior pleaded. His mother smiled sadly. "The rings will have already alerted him that I've escaped the house. Even as we speak-" there was a whoosh from the Floo and a roar of anger, "ANNEMARIE SCABIOR! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?! Get home. NOW!" the Scabior patriarch came striding angrily through the Floo. He saw her standing with the werewolf, its arms wrapped around her protectively. He narrowed his eyes and came right at the boy. "If you cared so much about your mother, BOY, you'd forget this little mudblood, find a proper, suitable bride and rejoin your mother at the family estate! But you won't, will you? You insist on being as bull headed as she is!"

Everyone was watching the two men. "Maybe if you had never stolen her in the first place, she wouldn't be so damn bull headed! You had your choice of three other women, much more proper and suitable from the way I heard it, and yet you chose to steal your best friend's girl, right out from under his nose! What's that say about you?"

The two goons were suddenly there by their employer's side. All too well, they remembered what happened the last time father and son met and the little mudblood was standing right there, her eyes narrowed in anger, her fist already curled and drawing back.

"Annemarie, come!" as she hesitated. "Now. Or the meeting is off!"

"I want some assurance that you won't harm her, tonight or any other time, if I let her leave here." Scabior demanded calmly.

"What? My word isn't good enough!" Malaki snarled. 'This little werewolf was pushing his limits!'

"I'm Harry Potter. Pretty sure you've heard of me. No offence," Harry spoke sharply, making it clear he didn't care if he offended or not. "But your word isn't worth the air you used saying it. You might not be aware of it but I'm an Auror, one of the best in my class, I'm told. I'm putting you on notice, right now, when Mrs. Scabior leaves here tonight, she better be at that meeting tomorrow and she better be in excellent health. If I find out you or anyone has laid even a fingernail on her in anger, I'll chuck you into Azkaban so fast your head will be spinning a century from now! Are we clear, Mr. Scabior?" Harry normally hated to use his name and throw his weight around but this was different. His name and the weight it carried might very well be the only saving grace for the continued health of Scabior's mother. Until they could safely extract her from Scabior's father, he would continue to use his name and throw his weight about.

Malaki looked at Harry in disgust. "How a brat like YOU ended the Dark Lord, I don't know but you don't scare me, Mr. Potter."

"Ahem," he heard from behind him. He turned around, just in time to again receive a punch squarely on the nose. As he went down, holding his nose and yelling, he heard, "Maybe you'll fear ME, if you don't fear Harry!" as Hermione punched him in the nose once again. The bodyguards pulled him up the stairs. His wife was laughing uproariously. "Oh, my dear, my darling girl, that's the best thing I've ever seen! Thank you, I won't soon forget that!" Still laughing, she followed the men up the stairs. Just before she went through the Floo, she turned around. "I love you, my son. It was good to see you in action, Hermione. I'll see you both tomorrow." With a last wave, she went into the Floo.

"Damn, girl, from now on, I'm gonna send you to argue with my old man. One punch and the fight's over!" Scabior hugged Hermione close and inspected her hand. She sniggered and said, "I'm quite getting used to ending my conversations with your dad like that."

"Are you two gonna be dancing anymore, if not, I suggest we go on home. I think we've put on enough of a show tonight, what say you?" Harry asked, looking around at all the curious clubbers around him.

"We're going to be dancing some more but we don't need an audience for it, do we?" Hermione whispered to Scabior. He chuckled and swept her into his arms. "No, no we do not!"

The group headed out, again accompanied by Marcus and Aidan. This time, they made it safely all the way back to Grimmauld Place. Harry opened the Floo directly back to the Riot. Marcus and Aidan bid them good night and arranged to be at the Leaky Cauldron the next morning.


	11. The Meeting

The Meeting

Hermione gets to formally meet Scabior's parents. Big daddy letting the meeting go smoothly, 'ha-ha, yeah right, think again boy!' yep, he's up to no good. Can they save Scabior's mother before it's too late? Stick around and we shall see.

The next morning, Scabior was up early and down in the kitchen, making plans with Harry. Hermione was tearing through every piece of clothing she had, trying to decide on the perfect outfit to 'meet the parents' in, even if one of the parents hated her guts.

"Ginny, Parvati, help me, what should I wear?" she had three different outfits laid out on the bed. "Should I wear something Muggle or my wizarding robes?" she bit her lip worriedly.

"Calm down, Hermione! How about a halfway compromise? Wear this dress under your robes and that way you'll be prepared. She knows you're a Muggleborn. That means you could go either way in your clothing and it would be right." Ginny soothed her frazzled nerves. Her and Parvati, once they got her clothes sorted out, began helping her with her hair and makeup.

Downstairs, Harry was telling Scabior about who all was going to be there on their side. Scabior was still worried that he was leading Hermione right into a trap. He just knew, somehow, his old man was going to try and hurt his little beauty. Harry assured him that he had thought of that and recruited some extra help who would be concealed until it was time to reveal themselves or they were certain that the extra help wouldn't be needed.

Twenty minutes before the appointed time, Harry, Ron, Scabior and Hermione went through the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron. Marcus and Aidan were already there, as was Greyback. Scabior visibly relaxed as he saw his foster dad there. Harry smiled, knowing he'd been right to include Fen. Scabior glanced around as Harry subtly pointed out where he had extra help stashed.

Scarier took a deep breath and hoped the extra help wouldn't be necessary. Right at twelve o'clock, the Floo opened and Annemarie Scabior came bounding out, snapping over her shoulder, "Get off me, you big ruffian, why do you ALWAYS have to be touching me! I can't move ten feet away from you, let me have SOME space, Merlin!" Malaki Scabior came snarling out behind her, "I'm perfectly at liberty to touch my own wife, DEAR!" He sneered as he looked at his son and Harry Potter, standing side by side. "What's the matter, Potter? My son too much of a coward to face me by himself? No wonder he had to settle for a mudblood!"

Scabior snarled and lunged. Greyback caught him, just in time. "Says the man who sends his goons to do HIS dirty work. Tsk, Tsk, now we both know better than that, don't we, DADDY?" the enraged look on the older man's face indicated his sons insult had struck a nerve.

"You DARE speak against me, wolf, your own father?!" 'We'll see how long THAT last's,' Malaki thought maliciously. He'd teach the mutt to respect his elders, if it was the last thing he ever did! He watched as his wife got closer to the mudblood. He hated the thought of it even being in his house, much less being the mother of his grandchildren, who were already going to be saddled with one curse. He vowed he'd remove the mudblood from his son's life one way or another.

Scarier scoffed as no less than ten guards came out of the Floo behind his dad. "Who are you trying to protect, you or her?"

"I'm not the only one who brought guards, am I?" Malaki sniped.

"At least, my guards are close to the one they're supposed to be guarding." Scarier returned.

"Why do you assume they're NOT with the one they're being paid to guard. Your bull headed mother insists that she didn't need guards and for me to shove off, so I didn't put guards on her." Malaki watched, satisfied as his son flinched.

They watched as Annemarie reached Hermione. A bit too late, both Scabior and Harry missed Malaki raising his wand. As they both shouted, "No!" , Malaki pointed his wand at the witches and said, "Portus!" in a flash of the eye, Annemarie and Hermione, who had just clasped hands in greeting, vanished.

Scabior jumped his dad, angrily. "Where is she?! Where did you send them, you bloody bastard! Tell me, now!"

Harry and the others ran forward to get Scabior off his dad. Malaki jabbed his wand into his son's side. "I'm so going to enjoy this. Crucio!"

Scabior dropped, screaming in pain from the one curse he'd hoped to never encounter again. Fen roared angrily at seeing his boy down. "Damn you, you bastard! Didn't you hurt him enough during the war?!" Marcus and Aidan grabbed him. From the look on Malaki's face, he'd love nothing more than to put Fen under the Crucio as well.

"Expelliarmus!" no less than three wizards shouted the spell, to no avail. Malaki activated his own portkey and disappeared, too. The goon squad did their job all too well. Three of them kept throwing the Crucio at Scabior, keeping him down, screaming in agony. The rest of them were fighting Harry and the rest of the honor guard. Two of them had successfully thrown Fen under the Crucio, a fact he made them regret as he grabbed both of them and slammed their heads together. They'd live but they would have hellish headaches when they woke up.

By the time the fight was over, Malaki and the witches had been gone for at least twenty minutes. Scabior was hurting so bad he could barely move but he was determined to help get Hermione back. This time, he also swore his mother was staying with them, even if he had to tie her up and throw her over his shoulder!

Harry was trying to figure out where he would have taken them. "I know where he's gone, Potter. Knockturn Alley. He has an old abandoned building there. It's where I suspect most of his shadier deals have gone down at. But it's warded like crazy. You'll never break them before he kills her and I think that's what he fully intends to do. I was stupid to forget that he makes his own portkeys. Even stupider for believing he wouldn't use mother as bait for trapping Hermione." Scabior was finally back up, on his feet. He was swaying weakly against Fen but standing ready. "I'll have to go with you. Only someone with Scabior blood can break the wards without alerting him. You go rushing in all gangbusters and he'll move them again."

Harry sighed. The boy looked half dead but, if what he said was true, they would need him. He couldn't risk the slippery snake moving Hermione again. The Aurors, who had offered themselves as extra security, secured all the 'bodyguards.' They would transport them to Azkaban, where they would wait to stand trail.

Harry took the lead, heading into Diagon Alley. Fen and Scabior were right behind him. The crowds looked at the group of scowling wizards and promptly moved out of the way. They wasted no time, making it to Knockturn Alley. At the sight of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and now Auror, every wizard in sight scattered into the nearest doorway to hide from him. Fen and Scabior moved up to take the lead. Scabior stopped abruptly outside a dilapidated old building. "This is it, Potter. He's in there. They are, too. I can feel their magic from out here."

He pulled his wand and began breaking the impossibly complicated wards his dad had set up on this building. Harry watched, intrigued. He'd not seen wards this complicated since the horcrux hunt to take down Voldemort.

Inside the building, Malaki was circling the two terrified witches. "Well," staring at Hermione, "Well, well, well, what have I caught myself today? It looks like the perfect solution to a long time problem. Two birds with one stone, so to speak, aye, mudblood? What IS it about you that has captivated the little mongrel? You're not that much too look at, he was never too into reading, can't be that, either." He stopped behind her and shocked her by sliding his hand up her dress. "Must be THIS, hmmm? Mayhap, before I kill you, I'll take a turn, see what all the fuss is about, yeah?"

He pulled his wand and stuck it into her back. "You, Miss Granger, are going to help me rid myself of a bothersome burden. If you do, maybe, just maybe, I'll let you see the boy one last time before you die. It's a more than generous offer. All you have to do is say two little words."

Hermione bravely laughed at him. "No, thank you, just kill me now because I will NOT help you in any way.

"Oh. I think you will." He drawled. He pressed his wand harder against her, then whispered in her ear. "Imperio." Hermione's eyes widened further. She tried to fight it by pulling up thoughts of Scabior. Malaki laughed, watching her face pale as she realized she was losing the fight. "Now, do be a good little mudblood and pull your wand."

Annemarie knew what was going to happen. All she could do was watch helplessly as her loathed husband forced the sweet young witch to do his own dirty work. She'd known for a long time now that he was looking for a way to kill her. The healer had told both her and Malaki that she was too young and too narrow to successfully carry a child. He hadn't cared about anything but getting his precious heir. She'd had trouble carrying Scabior and was unable to have more children.

He'd been furious when his only son was bitten by a werewolf. It was a wonder he hadn't followed the lead of his friend and killed Scabior right there at the playground. That had shocked Annemarie to her core, how a man could callously kill his own child for something he couldn't prevent. 'Poor little Alain!' It had terrified her son also. He had looked at his father so fearfully then. When Malaki grabbed the boy and told him to follow, he'd get him some help, Annemarie had almost, ALMOST for once in her marriage, felt love for her husband. Until, that is, he had dragged the boy to Knockturn Alley and hit, HIT, her baby boy, thrown him down the alley and invited every criminal in earshot to go after her baby. Her last view of her boy had been him screaming for her not to leave him.

She'd felt such relief at discovering he wasn't dead. Until she realized her husband had set new boundaries upon her preventing her from going to check on the boy. The most she could do was slip a suitcase of his clothes out of the house. After that, she would send him gifts of his beloved candy and cauldron cakes. She would find the biggest box she could, pack it as full as possible and send it to Tom for him.

When he was able to go to Hogwarts, she sent a letter of gratitude to Albus Dumbledore for allowing him to attend and Severus Snape for watching over him and brewing him the Wolfsbane Potion. Both men wrote back telling her what a good student he was and how honored they were to have him there.

After Hogwarts, she lost sight of him for a while as the buildup to the war started. Then one day, unable to stand the thought of her son out there, thinking nobody cared for him, she sent a letter. She didn't sign it, but she hoped the letters found him in good health. She charmed the letters to let off a puff of hearts when he got them. She then charmed a locket she was wearing to warm every time he received a letter. It was her way to know that her son still lived.

She stood quietly in front of the young witch, waiting for her to stop fighting and give in. Hermione was stubborn, though. And she was best friends with the Boy Who Lived. She had watched Harry fight the Imperio enough in fourth year that she knew how, she'd just never HAD to fight it before. She refused to let go of Annemarie's hand.

"I said, take out your bloody wand, mudblood, NOW!" he jerked the girl away from Annemarie. She spat at him in anger, then cried out as he backhanded her. She went to her knees, holding her cheek. He grabbed her hair and yanked her head backwards. "TAKE. OUT. YOUR. BLOODY. WAND, MUDBLOOD! NOW! OR ELSE I'LL GIVE YOU A BLOODY GOOD REASON FOR BEING ON YOUR KNEES!"

Hermione began crying silently as she brought out her wand. Annemarie was crying in sympathy. 'This one act would kill the girl's spirit before Malaki ever killed her.' Even if she managed to survive this day, she would never be able to look Scabior in the eye ever again. Malaki had successfully killed his son's happiness before it reached full bloom.

"Now, point the wand at my beloved wife, mudblood." Hermione shook her head violently. He viciously kicked her in the ribcage. She screamed as she felt at least two or more ribs crack under the brutal attack. She fell, gasping for breath, to her side. He pulled her back up. "Point the damn wand, you filthy little mudblood! Now!"

She weakly raised her arm obediently and pointed the wand at Annemarie. He knelt down and steadily aimed the wand at her heart. Then he looked up at her, mockingly. "Well, dear wife, it looks like you are in a bit of a bind. Any last words, my darling?'

"You are despicable. I hate you and I hope you never have another son for as long as you live! You are ruining their lives and you don't even CARE! How can you do this? Have you not one ounce of conscience in your entire body?!" she cried, angrily.

He huffed out a long breath. "None whatsoever, thank you for asking so sweetly, dear." He turned his attention to Hermione. "Now, my dear little mudblood, I need you to say two very important little words for me. Afterwards, we can have a bit of a tussle before I kill YOU!" he pointed his wand right at her temple. "Say it, now. Avada Kedavra. Say it, dear, before I REALLY lose my temper!" Hermione looked desperately at Annemarie, tears streaming down both their faces. Hermione shook her head again. She knew Scabior and Harry would be hunting for them, she just had to stall long enough for them to get there.

Malaki sighed. "Why are you doing this to yourself, dear? You know I'm going to get my way, in the end. Do you honestly like suffering this much?" At that, he wrenched Hermione's other arm behind her, dislocating her shoulder. Hermione screamed again but refused to speak. He pressed his wand into the tender skin at her temple. "IMPERIO! Say it, mudblood, say it!"

Hermione and Annemarie were both wailing in despair. Hermione felt her will give way. "Avada Kedavra." She sobbed, brokenly. As the deadly jet of green light left her wand, there was a flash of brown between them and she screamed as it turned out to be Scabior, throwing himself between the two witches.

"No, no, no, no! Scabior, Scabior! Oh gods, oh gods, no, no, Scabior!" she screamed, brokenheartedly. The young man laid there, silent and unmoving as the two witches screamed in unison.

"Damn you, mudblood, one little job and you went and fucked it up!" he screamed at her. He pointed his wand at her, then froze as he realized there were more people in the room, besides his dead son.


	12. Sunday and Monday

Sunday and Monday

Following the aftermath of the meeting, Scabior and Hermione find themselves closer than before. Daddy Scabior's crimes come to light. Little Scabior comes out to play.

Malaki Scabior found himself looking down the wand of an absolutely furious Harry Potter. "Move your wand, boy!"

"I don't think so. I took my eyes off of you at the Leaky Cauldron. That was a mistake I WON'T be making again!" hissed Harry. "Ron, get Hermione and Annemarie out of here. We'll bring Scabior out with us."

"No, no, Harry! I won't leave him! I won't! Scabior! Scabior!" Hermione sobbed, brokenheartedly. She had thrown herself onto the young man and refused to let go. Annemarie, devastated though she was, knew the best thing she could do right now was help get Hermione home, away from here. She, too, wanted to stay with her son, but right now, his young lady came first. "Hermione, darling, come on, we need to go. Before that devil over there unleashes some new horrors on us. Come, dear." She managed to coax Hermione to her feet.

"I hope they throw you into the deepest pits of hell, for what you've done here today." She snapped at the loathsome creature she was married to. He smirked at her, unpleasantly. "Don't get too comfortable, my dear, it doesn't matter where you go from here. I'll find you and when I do, you'll only wish I'd been sent to the pits of hell!"

"I do believe that was a death threat, Mr. Scabior, I can't help but notice all the charges you are racking up. Illegal port keys, god knows how many uses of both the Imperio and the Crucio. Now death threats, in front of witnesses, too. My, my, you are really jostling for a trip to Azkaban!" Harry smiled. "And I am the lucky one who gets to send you there. You'll be lucky if I don't decide to give you to the dementors to torment."

Between them, Ron and Annemarie managed to get Hermione on her feet and moving to the exit. Waiting until they were fully out of sight, they allowed Fenrir Greyback to enter the room. At first seeing Scabior laying there, he was shocked. He rushed over and knelt beside the boy. He leaned over him and picked up his hand. Then he stated belly laughing.

"The hell is wrong with him! The little mongrel is dead and he's laughing? Bloody hell, he's more cold blooded than even I thought!" Malaki exclaimed, unnerved by the sight.

"Oh, trust me, you want to see him laughing like that. If he hadn't, we'd be hard pressed to fight HIM off of YOU!" Harry stated quite calmly.

The older Scabior looked at Harry scornfully." And why is that, Mr. Potter?"

"Because you apparently forgot the same thing Hermione did." Harry took two steps back from him, still keeping his wand trained on the man's face. Everyone else also backed up.

"Forgot. I don't forget! What in the world would I have forgotten?!" Malaki snarled.

A sudden flash of light flew at him and threw him into the wall, so hard he made an indention. It was a powerful Flipendo and his 'dead' son was the caster. He was held, like a child, against the strong frame of his foster dad. "You have to MEAN what you're saying before you cast the spell. If you don't mean it,it won't work. Basic Defense 101 by Alastair 'Mad-Eye, Constant Vigilance! Bloody arse' Moody!" Scabior said. "Seriously, why you would forget something that basic, I'll never know. Have fun in Azkaban, tell the dementors hello from me."

Malaki screamed in rage at seeing the mutt still alive. "You, you can't be! You died! You died, you little cur, why are you still alive?!"

Scabior smiled mockingly at him." Because I just love hearing you, raging your guts out about your irresponsible son, careless enough to get bitten by a werewolf and survive. You heard him, she wasn't trying to kill mum so it didn't kill me. Hurts like hell but I'll live, much to your everlasting rage." He smirked smugly at his dad.

Harry shook his head, laughing at the boy, though he never took his eyes nor wand off the father. "Greyback, why don't you take our resident hero home before Hermione completely devastates herself and let her and his mum know he's alive?"

"Sure thing, Potter, you want I should stay there till you get there?" Fen asked.

"Yes, please. I'd feel much better if you kept watch over them until I get there. Then we'll decide what to do about the situation until we're sure this one is buried under Azkaban." Harry looked at Malaki with disgust.

As Greyback left with Scabior, even more Aurors came streaming into the building. Malaki was tightly bound with both ropes and spells. The department of Magical Law Enforcement had been after him for quite some time now. He was a major mover and player in the smuggling industry. They had been suspecting him, for some time now, of drugging and trafficking young male and female muggleborns out of the country and into slavery for over a year.

Back at Grimmauld Place, Ron had brought Hermione and Annemarie to the sitting room. They were sitting on the couch, both softly wailing as they mourned the young man left behind. Ginny and Parvati came running as they heard the door slam.

"How did it,,, go?" Ginny entered the room, high spirited, but seemed to notice the sadness immediately. "What happened?" she mouthed to Ron. Ron, looking on the verge of tears himself, shook his head. "Let's wait for Harry." He mouthed back. Ginny sat down next to Hermione as Parvati took a seat next to Annemarie, rubbing their back soothingly.

They heard the Floo in the kitchen open up. Ron stood up. "That'll be Harry back. I'll go see what's what." He walked into the kitchen and almost jumped out of his skin. It was Fen and he was toting a very much alive Scabior! Fen laid his finger across his lips and nodded toward the other room. "Potter will be here soon. He'll explain everything."

At that moment, Harry came through. "I personally escorted him into Azkaban and into their strongest warded cell. Now to wait for him to go on trial." He looked at Scabior and chuckled. "Are you ready to be fussed over and at? We can't keep her in suspense too long or she'll kill us all."

Scabior tested his legs. They felt like they were strong enough now to hold him up. Still, he was glad Fen kept a hand on his shoulder as he slowly made his way to the sitting room behind Potter. He was anxious to reunite with his mother and his little beauty. Harry stood in the doorway. "Hermione,sweetie, there's something I have to tell you." He waited until she was looking at him, tears still streaming. "Sweetheart, what did I tell you about fifth year, after we got back from the Ministry, that you got so mad at me about?"

"Using an Unforgivable on,, on Bellatrix Lestrange." Hermione stated. "Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to but he had me under the Imperio. I didn't realized how hard it was to fight it."

"Hermione, you did beat it. Sweetie, I'm not mad at you. You were fighting it as hard as you could and I'm so proud of you for that. But you forgot one very important detail."

Hermione looked puzzled. "I did? But Harry, I said the spell. I killed him. I killed Scabior." Her shoulders began shaking again.

"You have to mean it, Hermione. Did you WANT to kill Annemarie?" she shook her head no. "You HAVE to WANT to kill someone for the spell to work." He stepped aside to reveal Scabior, alive but unsteady. Hermione and Annemarie both screamed with joy. He smiled and cautiously strolled across the room. He sat down between them, pulling both of them to him. They settled against him and cried. Harry went back to the kitchen.

"The Ministry will only hold Malaki one week and if they don't take him to trial by next Monday, he'll be able to secure his release. So, we need to figure out something. Scabior and Annemarie SHOULD be safe enough this week but next week, I want to figure out how to put round the clock security on them. I was thinking maybe move her in here and put undercover guards in the Leaky Cauldron to protect Scabior and Tom, when Scabior isn't here with Hermione." Harry was pacing, biting his lip in thought.

Fenrir was thinking about the same thing. "What about Hermione? He's liable to come after her as well. How are you going to guard her at the hospital? Like you said, she should be safe enough this week but what about next week?"

Harry hadn't even considered that. "Damn, if I send guards, with her, into the hospital, she'll kill me! Maybe if I post guards at all the entrances, it won't be too bad. So long as they aren't following right on her heels, she should be ok with it."

"I can't help out too much this week, Potter, but next week I can send some of my other boys to guard the Cauldron. That will free your men up for his mum and Hermione. He'll be more worried about them than himself." Fen said as he tapped his fingers on the kitchen table.

"Ok, so we'll keep regular watch on them this week. You said full moon is Thursday night? That will give your boys the weekend to recover. Sunday night, we'll post them in the Cauldron. I'll post my people at the hospital and here. I'm hoping we'll be able to convince Annemarie to stay in protective custody. If she's as stubborn as Scabior and Hermione, god help us, trying to keep her safe." Harry sighed would frustration.

Fenrir laughed. The woman was pretty stubborn and feisty. If he wasn't already head over heels in love with his Mary, Scabior's mother would be exactly his type. "Maybe I can bring Mary over next week. She and Annemarie would get a kick out of one another. Introduce little Alex to her. That might convince her to stay hidden for a while."

While Harry and Fen were talking security, Annemarie and Hermione were both snuggled against Scabior. While Annemarie was just marveling at being with her son again, Hermione was just happy that she hadn't killed him. She kept her hand laid over his heart and her head on his shoulder, her lips against the pulse point in his throat. He kept an arm around each of them, glad to have his mother back in his life. "What are you going to do now, mum? You can't go back to him. He'll have you dead before the weeks out."

"She can stay here, for a while. Harry, I'm sure, is already planning to keep her here. At least, until he's sure your dad won't be able to get his hands on her. Andromeda's here with Teddy Lupin. We'll be having Grace and Alex in the next couple of days. She can meet everyone. Next week will be soon enough to make any kind of decisions."

"I'll have to figure out how to get some of my clothes from the manor, if I'm to stay." Annemarie mused.

"Mum, is Peach the one you had spying on dad? Maybe you can call her and she can bring you some stuff? I really don't like the thought of you going back to that house, even though he's not there now." Scabior was frowning at that thought.

"Oh! SON! I have to go back. Those poor young witches! They can't leave the house!" Annemarie gasped. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter! I need your assistance!"

Harry came running, Fen and Ron right behind him. "Mrs. Scabior?"

"Annemarie, please, Mr. Potter. I try every day to forget I'm burdened with that man's last name. But right now, we have to go back to his manor. Those young women, the ones he handpicked for our son. They are trapped there. They have no way of leaving. After my son sent back to packages of ashes, he decided they could stay there for HIS entertainment and that of his men instead. I know he has attacked two of the young ladies already. I also saw several of his men dragging some of the young ladies into their rooms. I've heard the screams." Her eyes were haunted looking.

Harry looked at Scabior. "Do the wards on your father's house require someone of his blood to brake them down as well?" Scabior nodded. He untangled himself from his mum and Hermione. He stood up and said. "Come on, I'm sure that wasn't nearly all my father's people today. If she saw his men already attacking the women, there might not be anyone alive to be saved. The sooner we get there, the sooner those girls can be sent home safely. I wouldn't put it past him to send them out of the country as soon as he discards them."

They headed out of the house. Harry sent a Patronus, updating the DMLE on the situation. He received a message back, telling him there would be reinforcements waiting for him at Scabior Manor. Hermione and Annemarie began pacing, knowing they would worry themselves sick until Scabior safely returned to them again. Outside, Scabior gave Harry the location of his former home. Knowing as weak as he was, he'd likely Splinch himself, he trusted Harry to take him through.

They disapparated and reappeared at a bleak looking valley. Bordered by a river on one side and a forest on the other, it was a forbidding looking house in the middle of a meadow. It was very similar to Malfoy Manor but with a much more sinister appearance. Harry shivered with unease. There was no way he'd ever live in a place like this. It was entirely too intimidating. He couldn't believe the young man beside had grown up in a place like this. Maybe it was warmer and more welcoming inside, though. One could only hope. They came to an elaborate gate and Scabior set about breaking his father's wards once more. Once they had the gate open, they walked to the house. There was no guards challenging them, which Scabior found very suspicious. 'Why were there no guards outside?' Once they reached the door and started inside, they realized why. According to the packages, there had been thirty witches altogether. There were thirty six in the rescue party.

Once inside, all they could hear were terrified screams from upstairs. The guards had decided to play while the master was away. The raiding party all whipped out their wands and rushed up the stairs. As they began slinging open doors, they were throwing hexes at the men inside. As the girls were liberated, they were instructed to tell their story to an Auror. They were all soon rounded up and yet another load of men were hauled off to Azkaban to stand trial.

All of the young witches were gathered up and taken to the Ministry. There, it was discovered that roughly half of them had been abducted from their homes. Not all of them had been attacked but there were enough to file official charges against Malaki Scabior and twenty five of his men. That was in addition to the charges already filed by Harry Potter. All in all, it was doubtful that he would be seeing the light of day anytime soon, unless he greased an awful lot of hands.

They came back, cautiously hopeful that it was all over now. Harry didn't intend to relax his guard just yet, though. He would wait and see if the man was actually sentenced or not before he let his guard down. So the security plans stayed in place. He told Scabior about the security measures they were taking and he told Harry that Hermione had already told his mum she could stay there with them. Harry agreed and told Scabior he was more than welcome to stay there as well.

Scabior thanked him for giving his mother sanctuary but stated he would stay with Tom at the Leaky Cauldron. Since Tom and Fen were the main reasons he was still alive, he would sooner make sure nothing happened to either of them. As long as his mum and his little beauty were safe, he wasn't worried about himself, just as Fen had predicted.

The rest of Sunday was spent getting to know Annemarie and recovery time for Scabior. That night, he and Hermione retired to their room. Annemarie had been shown to a room on the next floor down. They had managed to secure a suitcase of her belongings as they liberated the girls that day. He shooed Hermione into the bathroom and undressed, wincing as he laid down and pulled the cover over him. He was so tired and sore, he was already fast asleep by the time Hermione made it out of the bathroom. Hermione finished up and climbed into the bed, beside him. She carefully tucked herself into his right side and held him tightly. She laid there, looking at him for a while. She was still too scared by his near death to want him to leave her just yet.

The next morning, she got up and quietly got dressed for work. She had intended to wake him up for one last round beforehand but that had been before the meeting. Now she just wanted him to stay like he was, peacefully sleeping, for as long as possible. She went downstairs and told Harry to let him sleep as long as he could. Then she went to the Leaky Cauldron, assured Tom that Scabior was alive and well, resting up before he came in. Then she went through the Floo and began her day at work.

About two hours after she got to work, she was talking over a case with Parvati when an old man came in with a beautiful young witch. They were arguing about a potion gone wrong and whose fault it actually was.

"Excuse me, may I help you?" Hermione inquired politely.

"I need a healer. My wife gave me an Aging potion, instead of a hangover potion and look at me, just look at me!" screeched the old man. The young witch looked at Hermione from over his shoulder and rolled her eyes.

Hermione just barely caught herself before bursting into laugher. She obediently went to find a healer and sent the couple his way. An hour later, all the trainees were called into a meeting and told they needed to know how to make a De aging potion. They could brew it at home or at work but they all had three days to get it right. Since it was near the end of their shift, she and Parvati decided to wait till they were home. They gathered up all the necessary ingredients, then went home. They were both almost done when it was discovered there wasn't enough dried lavender for both potions. Hermione took some fresh lavender and chopped it up. They watched as both potions brought up to a beautiful finish. 'Now, who to test them on?'

"I think I'm going to test mine on Ron. The effects are only supposed to last for three days. It'll wear off by Wednesday and he's got time off coming up. Harry does as well, Ginny, you should remind him." Ginny nodded. With everything happening lately, Harry wouldn't want to take any time off until this latest case was taken care of.

"Hermione, you ought to see if Scabior will let you test yours on him." Ginny and Parvati both giggled. "He'd be such a baby doll!"

Just then, the two under discussion walked into the room. Ron had never thought he'd be able to like or even respect Scabior, but after learning about his past and seeing him interact with Hermione, he was going to let his mum know she'd be knitting a sweater for a new family member this Christmas. Scabior was still a bit heavy eyed from sleeping off the effects of the Crucio and Avada Kedavra. He was showing Ron the necklace he was wearing. It was or had been a wolf's fang pendant, given to him by Mary, shortly after Fen had taken him for his first few full moons.

"I think I know how that Avada missed me. It hit this, it's a protection pendant. Damn, Mary will kill me for letting it get hit." He was looking down at the pendant and missed the mischievous smile on Hermione's face. She had a serious look on her face by the time he looked up.

"Scabior, I need you to help me with something." She waited until he was seated, then dropped into his lap, holding the potion. "We have been ordered by the senior healers to make our own De aging potions and we need to test them." She was whispering in his ear, same as Parvati was doing with Ron. "Would you drink this potion for me, pretty please? It would help me ever so much." She was being flirty and batting her eyes at him.

As soon as he heard 'De aging potion', he knew it was a bad idea. "Um, I don't think you want to try and cope with me as a five year old, darling. From the way the nursery elves and my mum talked, I was hell on wheels. They could barely keep up with me then."

"It'll be fun, though. All of us will be here to take care of you, including your mum. Didn't you tell me once that she was only able to come to your nursery once in a while? The effects only last three days. You'll be back to normal in time for full moon. Think about it, you and her will be able to stay together for three whole days." He had to admit, it would have been nice to have had more time with his mum at that age. Still, he was unsure about it.

"Ron is going to test my potion, Scabior. You won't be the only five year old running around." Parvati laughed.

Looking at Ron, he could see the ginger was just as unsure about the idea as he was. It made him feel a bit better. He turned around to face Ron, both of them holding potions in their hands. They tapped their vials together, said, "Bottoms up!" and downed the potions.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. Then the two vanished. Parvati pulled Ron's seat away from the table as Hermione pulled Scabior's seat away.

Then, "Awwww, so adorable! Look at them!" There, in the chairs, were two tiny boys. A little brunette and a little ginger sat, staring up at them with wide eyes.

Ron was dressed in little miniature Aurors robes and his wand had fallen out of his sleeve. Parvati picked it up and placed it in her holster, along with her wand. His ginger hair was all tussled up and needed brushing. It was weird, seeing her childhood friend as an actual child. But she had to admit, he was a cute child. Being in the presence of basically strangers didn't seem to faze him. He was already looking around curiously. Scabior, on the other hand, was a different story.

He was such an adorable little boy! If she hadn't already met his baby nephew and if he wasn't in his Snatcher clothes which had shrunk with him, she'd never have known it was him but for those beautiful blue eyes. His brown hair, curly as an adult, was straight as a board and the top was as fuzzy and messy as Harry Potter's hair.

Evidently, he'd never been in the presence of anyone but his mother and the nursery elves because he blinked those big blue eyes at them, then burst into tears. Ginny, Hermione and Parvati all tried to comfort the little boy but he was having none of it. He screamed for his mum at the top of his lungs. Annemarie and Andromeda, holding Teddy Lupin, came rushing in. By this time, Ron had also begun crying. Teddy Lupin, hearing them, promptly burst into tears himself.

"Oh! My baby boy, what is the matter, come, talk to mum, what's wrong, my baby boy?" Annemarie picked up Scabior, crooning in his ear, and settled him against her. Her quiet words helped calm the little boy down and he sniffled as he looked at the rest of the people in the kitchen. He looked at his mum and pointed at them.

"How old is he? The De Aging potion was only supposed to take him down to five years old but I'm thinking he's younger than that, unless he was small for his age?" Hermione asked, uncertainty.

"Oh, he was actually the right size for his age, even though he was born slightly early. If I'm not mistaken, he's between three and four years of age right now. He was a very shy child, believe it or not. Most elf raised children are, not all of them. But the families who didn't even have any interaction with their children until they were old enough to sit at the dinner table, yes, their children grew up very shy. Scabior insisted on very little contact with my Michael, though I wanted so very badly to raise him myself. I was little more than a child when I had him. I was only sixteen when I was forced into the marriage. I had Michael shortly after my seventeenth birthday." Scabior's mother didn't look old enough to have a twenty something son. The simple explanation solved that mystery.

Hermione cautiously approached him and held out her arms. Now that his mother was in the room, Scabior was easily coaxed into letting her hold him. He stared at her curiously and reached up, grabbing her hair. They all laughed, remembering his penchant for burying his face in her hair.

She and Parvati looked at each other triumphantly. Their De Aging potions had worked! Why St Mungo's wanted them to know how to make De Aging potions, they didn't know, but theirs was a success.

"Why is Scabior younger than Ron?" she wondered. She and Parvati looked over the recipe they had used. "It had to be the lavender, Hermione. It's the only difference as far as I can tell. I used the dried lavender and you used the fresh lavender. It must have had a deeper effect on the potion which made Scabior younger.

"We need to make a note of that. It will help them to figure out the exact ingredients and the exact dosage." Hermione said. She and Parvati completed their notes and set out the ingredients for the counter potion. Then they went to enjoy watching their little boyfriends running and playing.

Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter. Hope this chapter makes it up to you. Thank you for reading it. Love you, my peeps. Enjoy!


	13. Babysitting my three year old boyfriend

Babysitting my three year old boyfriend: part 1

Ron and Scabior have been de-aged. Are Hermione and Parvati ready for their shenanigans? Company is on its way. Combine Alex and Grace with Scabior, Ron and Teddy Lupin and what do you get? Maybe more than they can handle as the full moon draws closer and several of our babies get close to transformation.

Hermione and Parvati walked into the library in time for Scabior and Ron, chasing a bouncy ball conjured by Harry, to run into their legs. With little squeaks of surprise, the boys bounced back and dashed away, after the ball once again. The girls laughed as they went to sit down on the couch. Teddy Lupin was watching them, not sure about these two new boys. Annemarie was gazing lovingly at Scabior dashing here and there.

"I missed so much of his childhood. First, I just wasn't allowed near him. Then HE threw him away! It broke my heart when other parents would visit, bringing their children. It was literally the only times I got to see him besides going to his nursery. He said it would turn the boy into a sissy, a namby pamby, being around me, knowing he could hide behind my skirts. So he grew up with limited contact with me and even less contact with HIM." It was obvious that Annemarie despised Malaki to the point she wouldn't even say his name.

"How was he able to get your father to agree to a marriage or was it his father that arranged it?" Harry asked.

"My father and his father are very like him, Mr. Potter. They would sell their own mothers if they thought they could get away with it. HE was friends with the boy I hoped to marry, Pierre. How they ever became friends is beyond me. Pierre was a kind, gentle person. But he let himself be browbeaten by his own father. He asked me to marry him, you know. I was going to. I had already told my father about him and that we intended to wed. Pierre had an enormous fortune, I later found out that's why my father was willing to let me marry him. Then HE showed up and Pierre's fortune was nothing compared to it. My father promptly broke the engagement bond with Pierre in favor of HIM. They had to drag me into the wedding chapel that day, kicking and screaming. I tried to beg the Ministry priest to help me but either HE or my father had already greased some palms and the wedding was performed against my will. My father spoke in proxy for me. I was extremely pleased that HE wasn't too happy that our bond only produced black rings. I told him it was what he deserved, taking me away from the man I really loved! He backhanded me, Mr. Potter, right there in the chapel. Nobody raised a hand, either. They ALL knew what he was like and how my 'marriage' was going to be and NOBODY cared, at least not enough to help me." She looked at her son. "There, Mr. Potter, there is the ONLY good thing to come out of that whole mess. My baby. He loved me unconditionally. He didn't care that I couldn't be with him more. He was a comfort to me in my darkest hours. When I seriously thought about taking my own life, I would go tell him goodbye, he would reach his little hands up and wipe away my tears. I would find myself unable to go through with any of my plans. I just couldn't bear the thought of dying and leaving my baby to HIS care. So I would force myself to get up, move through the day and at night I would go visit my little angel in disguise. When he was bitten, I cried with both relief and sorrow. I knew he wouldn't be allowed to stay home, but he was getting out of that horrifying house. When he turned seven, he was finally allowed out of the nursery. But HE kept him with him most of the time. By the time he was nine, HE had almost succeeded in turning him into a ruthless little miniature of himself. He had convinced him that I didn't really love him, that I was only using that to manipulate him. Can you imagine saying that to a young, impressionable child? He turned my baby against me. Michael wouldn't have anything to do with me. It broke my heart. That year was the closest I ever came to killing myself. But then Michael was bitten and I regained a scrap of hope. With him out from under his father's heel, I might have a chance at regaining my son's love."

"Well, let me assure you, Annemarie, you have a safe haven here and Michael is welcome to say here as long as he wants to. I'm pleased to be able to bring the two of you back together." Harry told her.

He was more determined now, that Scabior Sr. would not leave Azkaban Prison for a long time, if ever! There was no reason in the world that would excuse his abominable treatment of his wife and son, not to Harry's way of thinking anyway. He was going to speak to Draco and the others, arrange a meeting with their dads and, in the case of Marcus, his mum. He knew if there was a way out of a forced marriage bond, one or the other of those parents would know. In the meantime, he was going to push, with the full force of his name, and get the man's trial set up as soon as possible. He knew there was only a limited amount of time before he greased enough hands to secure his release. Of course, he wouldn't worry about his men. He probably would gladly throw every one of them under the bus, as long as it kept his scheming arse out of Azkaban!

While Harry and Annemarie talked, Hermione and Parvati were watching the two little boys coax Teddy Lupin off the couch. They sat down and rolled the ball in a rough three way triangle. Once Ted was used to them, they all got up and dashed around the room, playing tag.

Scabior came running by and bumped Hermione's knee. She caught him, hugged him and set him back down. He giggled, ran off and played some more. Then he ran by and did it again. This time, Hermione figured out this was his own little way of getting her attention. She picked him up, laid him across her knee and tickled his ribs. The child laughed and squirmed around. She hugged him tightly and set him down again. She and Parvati watched a while longer, then went to the kitchen to begin cooking supper. Ginny joined them in the kitchen, leaving Harry, Annemarie and Andromeda to talk and watch the children.

Pretty soon, the kids noticed there wasn't as many people as there had been. Ron was the one who peeped into the kitchen first. His eyes lit on the plate piled with cookies and he licked his lips, hungrily. He directed the other boys' attention to the plate of cookies and their eyes grew large. They slipped over to the table. Ron lifted Scabior into the seat closest to the cookies. Scabior was the smallest, lightest one and Ron figured he'd be the fastest one to grab the cookies, not getting caught. Parvati was sitting at the table and she turned in surprise at seeing the little boy there. He grinned innocently at her and she turned back to Hermione and Ginny. Quick as a flash, he swiped two of the cookies and handed them under the table. Then he sat there until he was sure they weren't looking at him anymore. He swiped two more cookies and barely got them handed off and straightened back up in his seat before they turned to look at him again. Hermione was sure he was up to something but he looked so innocent, she couldn't decide what it was. As all three girls turned away from him again, he snatched the last two cookies off the plate. He handed them down and hopped out of the chair, toppling over as he landed.

"Scabior! Are you alright?" Hermione rushed around the table. He looked at her with his little eyebrows raised, jumped up like nothing had happened and raised his arms, grinning at her. She laughed, picked him up and hugged him, figuring it was another way of getting her attention. She set him down as Ron and Teddy jumped from under the table, zoomed out the door and took off with all the cookies that had been on the table. Scabior laughed a little belly laugh and took off after them.

"Ah, those little devils! They took ALL the cookies!" Hermione raced after them, determined to get those cookies back. The boys raced up the steps and into the first bedroom they came to. Laughing at Hermione, they crawled under the bed and sat there, stuffing the cookies into their mouths.

"Give me those cookies! You'll ruin your appetites! Oh, no! Now you're all going to be hopped up on sugar and you won't want to eat supper!" Hermione tried to coax them into giving up the cookies. They just laughed at her. She glared at Ron, knowing who the ringleader of the cookie thieves was.

"Now you're all covered in cookie crumbs and dust bunnies. You'll all have to have a bath tonight." She threatened, knowing little boys especially hated taking baths, preferring to have a little bit of dirt on them. The boys didn't budge. She realized, if she was going to get them out from under the bed, she was going to have to crawl under and drag them out or she could magic them out. As she pulled her wand and pointed it at them, Scabior began to cry and inch toward her.

"Scabior, sweetie, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, worried.

"Sowwy, me sowwy. No hut me, pwease. Won do it agin, pwomise!" he sobbed. She held her hand out and he crawled to her. She pulled him to her as she sat up, Ron and Teddy forgotten for the moment. Scabior nuzzled against her, still crying. She rocked the child gently, as she came to the conclusion that, at some point in his early childhood, Scabior had surely been disciplined with magic. It was the only reason she could think of. He hadn't been scared of her being after them, until she took out her wand and pointed it at him. She knew the elves didn't use wands and Annemarie wouldn't lift a finger against her child, much less a wand. Which led her to the obvious answer. In addition to everything else, apparently Malaki was also a child abuser, long before the boy was bitten. She wondered if it was possible, this young, to take memories out of the child's head, but even if they could, she knew memories weren't allowed to be used as evidence. It was too bad about that. Judging by his reaction, Scabior's memories would surely be enough to bury the man under the prison!

Ron and Teddy came out from under the bed and huddled to each side of her, patting Scabior on the back. It brought tears to her eyes, knowing they were confused, but still trying to help comfort the child.

"Why don't we go back downstairs and you play some tag or chase the ball around again, alright?" she said gently. The little boys nodded solemnly, staring up at her. They weren't sure what had scared Scabior so bad, but they wanted to help him not be scared anymore. Hermione stood up and walked out the door, leading them to the stairs. She waited as Scabior squirmed around, insisting on being put down. She led the way, stopping every few steps to help in case they started to fall. Ron easily followed her down. Scabior and Teddy St on their bottoms and slid down, a step at a time, clinging to the railing with one hand. She smiled at them as she led them back to the library.

Harry, Annemarie and Andromeda looked up as they entered the room, Annemarie's eyes widening as she noticed the tearstains on her son's face. She looked questioningly at Hermione who held up a finger. Hermione got the boys running around again, laughing and screaming before she came to the couch. She very quietly conveyed to them what had just happened upstairs. Annemarie and Andromeda were horrified and it took all three of them to keep Harry from rushing out, running off to Azkaban and killing the man himself. Harry was furiously pacing as he drafted out a letter for arranging the immediate trial of one Malaki Scabior.

"I'm not big on the dementors, Hermione can tell you that, but with all the lives this man has interfered in and basically ruined, I'd gladly see him receive the dementors kiss!" Harry exclaimed quietly. Much as he dreaded the thought of anyone having their soul sucked out, right now he was seriously wondering if Scabior Sr. even HAD a soul! The man certainly didn't act like he did!

Hermione slipped out of the room and went back to the kitchen. Ginny and Parvati were waiting to see if she'd caught the little cookie thieves. Instead she pulled out the ingredients to make a fresh batch. She told them what had occurred and how Harry had reacted to it.

"I think we should whip up a 'special' batch of cookies, just for Scabior, Sr." declared Ginny heatedly. Parvati, who very rarely got angry, was nodding in agreement. Hermione wanted to poison the man herself.

"Harry is going to try his hardest to get that man's trial going immediately. I'm pretty sure, angry as he is, he's definitely going to ask for the Kiss as Scabior Sr's punishment. And you know how much he hates the thought of using the Kiss as punishment for ANYONE!" the girls raised their brows. 'Yes, this was Harry Potter, the boy who believed in second chances for everyone, just like Dumbledore had taught him.' For HARRY to be the one wanting the Kiss as a punishment, the offender HAD to have done enough that even Harry didn't see any chance for redemption.

The boys were getting bored chasing the ball around. Ron looked around, the grownups were all busy looking mad about something. He motioned the other two to follow him. He held his finger over his lips. "Shush." As they inched past the kitchen door. They raced into the loo and closed the door. "We're going to decorate for 'Mione. She'll love it!" he told them.

Back in the kitchen, supper was finally done. They put a warming stasis spell on the food to keep everything warm until time to eat. It was at that time that Hermione, who had been unconsciously been listening to the boys play, realized she hadn't heard them in quite a while. She and Parvati looked at each other, wide eyed.

"Oh, no!" they breathed in unison. They raced out of the kitchen into the library, surprising Harry, Andromeda and Annemarie. "Where are the boys?!" Everyone panicked and began running around. Harry was hoping like hell they hadn't managed to get out the front door on their own.

A surprised scream from the downstairs loo informed everyone that Hermione had located the boys. They all rushed in and stopped short, open mouthed. The boys had done quite a job of 'decorating.' They had strung what looked to be at least three to five rolls of toilet paper all around the room. The bath towels were thrown everywhere and lotion bottles had been emptied drawing artwork on the walls. Toothpaste tubes were laying in the sink, empty as the paste slowly inched down the mirror over the sink. Shampoo and body wash bottles had been emptied as the boys made 'Mione a nice hot bath to soak in. 'Ron had told them his mother enjoyed hot soaks in the tub, so why not 'Mione?' The boys themselves were covered head to foot in lotion, shampoo, body wash and toothpaste. Scabior and Teddy, being younger than Ron, had been unable to resist tasting each thing they had poured out. The boys jumped and turned to Hermione when she screamed.

"Surprise, Tupwise!" yelled the boys, throwing their arms up and grinning at Hermione. She leaned weakly against the door as she tried to look strict. Harry was leaning against the wall, hands clapped over his mouth, turning red from his need to burst out laughing. Ginny took one look, turned and raced away, already cackling out loud.

Andromeda and Annemarie both stepped forward, lips twitching, as they looked at Scabior and Teddy. "Boys, boys, what is all this?"

It was Ron who stepped forward." We wanted to make a surprise for 'Mione. She wasn't happy cuz we took the cookies, we just wanted to make her smile." The other boys were nodding behind him. They didn't understand half of what he just said but they recognized her name. Hermione covered her eyes as she couldn't resist laughing, 'they were so adorable!'

"Oh, I am SO surprised! Thank you, boys!" she knelt down as they ran to her. She hugged them, glancing at the others over their shoulders, biting her lip. Annemarie and Andromeda were now having trouble holding in their own laughter. Parvati had face palmed, knowing now that Ron had, once again, been the ring leader.

"Supper is done, are you ready to go eat?" Hermione asked them. They cheered loudly. As Hermione took them up to the loo on the next floor, Annemarie and Andromeda waved their wands cleaning up the downstairs loo, but not before Harry grabbed a camera and took pictures of the room. He had already memorized what the boys looked like. He was going to have a great time, letting Scabior and Ron watch the memory once they were big again.

Everyone was washed up and got back to the kitchen in record time. The grownups helped the boys into their seats and filled their plates. By now, all the running and playing was having an effect on the boys, resulting in yawns and heavy eyes as their tummies got filled. They didn't resist as Hermione and Parvati took them up to get them ready for bed. They had moved two more small beds into the room Teddy Lupin usually slept in, so the boys could all be together.

Tuesday morning found Hermione waking up with a start, feeling a small weight on her chest. She opened her eyes and almost screamed. A little brunette was sitting on her, waiting patiently for her to wake up. She looked at her clock, realizing she still had another two hours before it went off. She looked back at Scabior and smiled. He grinned, laid down and snuggled against her, closing his eyes and falling back asleep. She turned onto her side, pulled him tightly against her and slept until her alarm went off.

Annemarie walked into the boys' room and briefly panicked at the sight of her son's empty bed. Then she heard voices from the room next door and figured out where he probably was. Sure enough, when she tapped on Hermione's door, she opened it, revealing herself getting ready for work as Scabior wandered her room, babbling happily at her. She giggled as she saw her son digging all of Hermione's underwear out of her drawer. Hermione was busily fixing her hair and unaware of what the boy was doing. Annemarie laughed out loud as he held up a pair of knickers and stuck them on his head, apparently thinking they were some sort of headgear. Hermione looked around and gasped as she giggled. "No, no, baby, no, those aren't made for wearing on your head." She rushed over and kissed him on the top of the head as she grabbed the knickers and put all the underwear back into her drawer. She and Annemarie were laughing as they came down the stairs, with Scabior easing down in front of them. He stubbornly refused to allow them to carry him down.

"Did Scabior wake you up, too?" Parvati giggled as they walked into the kitchen. Ron was sitting at the table working his way through a stack of pancakes, drizzling with syrup. Scabior's eyes lit up and Hermione knew what she'd be fixing him. Harry and Ginny walked in, arm-in-arm and greeted everyone. Harry, Hermione and Parvati would be going to work leaving Andromeda, Annemarie and Ginny in charge of the boys.

"Ginny, remember that Fenrir and Mary will be here soon. They'll be bringing Grace and Alex today." He stopped as Hermione gasped.

"Harry, he doesn't know about the D-e-a-g-i-n-g potion." She spelled the word out as she nodded toward Scabior, busily digging into his own stack of pancakes. Harry slapped a hand to his forehead in dismay.

"Don't worry, we can tell him and we can also assure him that his little heir will be back to normal in time for full moon." Ginny laughed. Hermione summoned a piece of parchment and scribbled a quick note to Greyback explaining the situation. "I wonder, this should reach him, right?" she worried. "Maybe I should stay here until he gets here, to let him know in person?

"Hermione. Go to work. We have this. We can explain the situation to Mary and Fen. Go!" Ginny ordered. Scabior looked up, syrup dripping down his chin and jumped out of his seat as Hermione prepared to leave. He ran over to her and held up his arms. She wiped his chin, lifted him up and squeezed him, gently explaining that she had to go to work but his mum, Aunt Andy and Aunt Ginny would be there with him until she got home. She sat him down and he went to the table. He grabbed one of his untouched pancakes and brought it to her. She laughed as she accepted the breakfast offering. He went back, climbed into his chair and resumed eating. Ron, seeing that Parvati was about to leave as well, brought HER one of his untouched pancakes. Parvati smiled happily, accepted it, hugged him tightly and left for work. Harry shook his head, grinning at them, and kissed Ginny goodbye as he headed out after the girls.

About an hour later the kids were playing tag in the library. Andromeda and Annemarie were watching them as they sat, talking and knitting. Ginny was seated at the kitchen table, reading. The kitchen Floo whooshed green and Fen came through, carrying Grace. Mary followed a moment later, with Alex in her arms.

"Good morning, how are you? Is this little Alex and Grace I've been hearing so much about? Hello, babies, how are you doing?" Ginny greeted them and cooed at the babies. Grace smiled shyly and Alex blinked owlishly at her. He looked slightly sleepy as though he'd just woken up.

"I know you probably have been at the Leaky Cauldron already and seen that Scabior isn't there. Before you ask, he's here. Ok, Hermione and Parvati, along with all the other trainees at St. Mungo's, were ordered to learn how to make De-Aging potions. Why? They don't know, but they were. So, they made them here and tested them. The effects wear off in three days, more or less. And the reason why I'm explaining this to you is because the test subjects were my brother, Ron and Scabior. Ron is five, Annemarie says Scabior is about three." Ginny took a deep breath and hoped for the best. Fen and Mary looked at one another as if to say 'um, ok?' Then they looked back at Ginny and said "Is he ok? The potion didn't hurt him in any way, did it?"

"No, no! The potion did exactly what it was supposed to do. It just De-Aged him. He's not hurt in any way, except having my brother as a bad influence." Ginny snorted, remembering the decorated loo and the snatched cookies. She related both incidents to them as they howled with laughter. She led them to the library to introduce them to Andromeda and Mary to Annemarie.

"Andromeda, Annemarie, this is Fen and Mary Greyback, Scabior's foster parents. Fen, Mary, this is Andromeda Tonks and Scabior's birth mother, Annemarie um,,?" Ginny wasn't sure whether to call her Annemarie Scabior or not, considering she avoided calling herself that every chance she got.

"Pelletier, Annemarie Pelletier." Annemarie graciously finished the introduction. They all shook hands and Annemarie thanked them for looking after Scabior so many years.

"No more than he's said, I can see the love he has for both of you and Tom. I'm just so glad he still had people who loved and cared about him, growing up. I hope to repair my own relationship with him, now that we are both away from that tyrant." She still refused to say her husband's name. Frankly, neither Mary nor Fen could find fault with that. They were just happy that she'd been brought out safely.

"I've told Harry that, starting next week, if the man hasn't been taken to trial and put away, my other sons will be going to the Leaky Cauldron to help Scabior protect himself and Tom." Fen turned as he felt a small tug on his pants. Ron, Scabior and Teddy were all staring at him. Scabior had tugged his pants.

"Who dat?" the child asked, pointing at Grace. She was looking at them curiously. Fen knelt down so she could stand up. "This is Grace." Grace stared at Scabior in confusion, sniffing slightly. 'The scent was the same but this wasn't the big man who had stared her down. It smelt like him, though.' She looked back at Fen and pointed at Scabior. Fen grinned, not sure how to explain it to her. "This is big brother Scabior. He's just,,, little,, at the moment. Before long he'll be big again." He wasn't sure how else to tell her. "This is Teddy Lupin and Ron." She smiled and joined in the game of tag they were playing.

Fen straightened back up and let out a breath of relief. Meanwhile, Mary was introducing Alex to Ginny, Andromeda and Annemarie, who were all cooing over the little boy. Annemarie noticed the red streak in the child's hair right off the bat. "Scabior's child?" she asked. Mary shook her head. "Fen?"

"Were you aware the rich bastard had mistresses?" he asked. She nodded.

"One of them had a daughter, named Rachel. She attracted the attention of a young loner werewolf named Malcolm. He didn't have a pack. If he had, he and Rachel might still be alive. Me and the boy investigated after Hermione took us to Alex and I took Alex home to Mary. They were attacked in their home by unknown assailants. Malcolm was killed. Rachel was left alive, barely. She made it to St. Mungo's on her own, had her child and died. At first it was thought that she was raving about her husband. Nobody had bothered to send an Auror to even check their home. They all just ASSUMED her husband had beaten her. Alex was about to be sent to a Muggle orphanage when Hermione brought him to my attention." Fen shook his head as the disturbing images from that house still haunted him. 'How he wished he'd found out about them earlier, he'd have gladly welcomed them into his pack, especially with Rachel being Scabior's sister.'


	14. babysitting my 3 yr old boyfriend:pt 2

Babysitting my three year old boyfriend: part 2

More shenanigans from Ron and Scabior.

As the grownups talked about things, the boys were rapidly losing interest in playing tag. Grace went to the couch and pulled herself up beside Annemarie and leaned against her. Annemarie hugged the little girl, she was the cutest little redhead Annemarie had ever seen. Small bones gave her a very fragile appearance, too. It was very hard to believe this beautiful child was a werewolf but her elongated incisors gave her away. She wasn't sure why the child had sought her out until she realized that she probably held Scabior's scent on her. She remembered the child being bewildered by the small boy and Fen explaining to her that 'big' brother Scabior was little for now but would soon be big again.

The boys all settled down near the door of the kitchen. They had watched Hermione, Harry and Parvati leave by the Floo this morning, instead of going to the Leaky Cauldron as they normally would have. Ron was confused. Ginny was bigger than him but he was older than her, wasn't he? He needed to ask mum what was going on but this wasn't home, either. Where was this place? He knew the name of home was The Burrow, so he told the two younger boys they were going home with him. Scabior and Teddy Lupin didn't quite understand what he meant but he was older so they followed him trustingly.

Ron looked around the corner, back into the drawing room. All the grownups were heading toward them, going to the kitchen. After they passed, he grabbed both the little boys and pulled them to the fireplace in the drawing room. He put them inside, grabbed a handful of powder and stood between them. He instructed them to hang on tightly to him. He wanted to go see mum and he was going to take his little friends with him. Mum had always told him to be careful when using Floo powder and never use it unless he had an adult with him. Really, though, how hard could it be? He threw down the powder and loudly said "The Burrow!"

In the kitchen, Annemarie had grown suspicious of the sudden quiet from the drawing room. She, Ginny and Andromeda rushed back to the drawing room, in time to see the boys whirl away in a cloud of green powder! "OH. MY. GOD!" Ginny screamed. "Harry and the others are going to KILL us! We've lost the boys!" They began shrieking in panic, wondering who they DARED to notify first: Harry that they had lost Teddy, Parvati about Ron or Hermione about Scabior!

While they were debating about which of the three was most likely to NOT kill them, there was another whoosh from the fireplace. Then they heard the unmistakable voice of Molly Weasley. "Ginny, dear, why is your brother five years old? And pray tell, who is this adorable little boy with him and Teddy?"

Ginny almost fainted with relief. "Oh, my god! Mum! I'm so glad you were home! Ron actually came to the Burrow by himself?! Ron! Why did you DO that?!" Ron, confronted by an angry mother and sister, did what seemed logical to his five year old mind. He pointed at Scabior and said loudly, "It was HIS fault! He wanted to know how to travel with Floo powder, Mum!" Molly and Ginny looked at each other in exasperation. Molly looked at the boy again, trying to place him. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar.

Ginny and Andromeda exchanged amused glances. Once again, Scabior, unknowingly, had made a conquest. "Mum, do you remember, during the war, when Harry, Ron and Hermione were captured? The young man who caught them? Harry always thought he had a thing for Hermione? Well, this is that same young man, Scabior. He helped Hermione with a potion, the same potion Ron helped Parvati with, a De Aging potion. It turned Ron five and Scabior was SUPPOSED to have been five, as well. But Hermione had to use a slightly different ingredient and it caused him to be younger than Ron."

Molly inspected the youngster in her arms. He stared back at her curiously. He was a gorgeous little boy, especially with that little red streak of hair hanging down. Hearing Ron and Teddy running around again, he squirmed restlessly, letting Molly know he was ready to be put down. Annemarie was just amazed that he had actually let a stranger pick him up. As Molly set him down, he grinned at her, threw his arms around her neck and hugged her before running after Ron and Teddy. Molly was smiling fondly after him. "So that's young Scabior. No wonder Harry could get Hermione all riled up over him. If his older self is that charming, he had to have bowled her over completely."

"Oh, he's that charming, mum, and bold enough to go after what he wants. He's also fearless, from what Harry tells me, not afraid to go toe and toe with anyone. Harry says the only one he ever saw him back away from was Bellatrix LeStrange and that was because he was trying to get Fenrir safely out of Malfoy Manor."

They watched the little ex-Snatcher run around. It was so weird, to them, that he was this happy as a child but grew up to be a Death Eater. It was clear to them why he had been chosen as a Snatcher, though. Even though he was easily the smallest boy in the group, aside from baby Alex, he was also the fastest one, out running the other boys time and again to get the ball. They stayed in the kitchen, allowing the boys the whole run of the drawing room, but they made sure to close the Floo connection, this time. They wanted no more escape attempts today. Molly had been quite gob smacked when she looked up earlier, at the Burrow, expecting the whoosh to be Arthur. Instead it had turned out to be a five year old Ron and two toddlers, one easily recognized as Teddy Lupin.

Ron had been thoroughly scolded by Molly about traveling the Floo without an adult, before she brought them back. He was pouting even more as, time and again, Scabior beat him to the ball, even though Ron was bigger. He narrowed his eyes at the child and thought of a good way to get back at him, seeing him brush his hair out of his face for the umpteenth time.

"Hey, little girl!" he mocked. The three year old glared at him. "Not a guwl, I'm a boy!" he exclaimed angrily.

"No, you're a girl! Only girls have long hair, boys have short hair, little girl!" he taunted.

"Not a guwl, not a guwl, I'm a boy!" Scabior yelled at him, angry enough to spit nails. Ron laughed at him. "Whatever you say, little girl!" he mockingly told the child.

Scabior was wearing his Snatcher clothes again and his holster belt had shrunk along with him. Unfortunately, the weapons on the belt had stayed very much real. Without thinking, Scabior snatched the knife out of its pocket. It had gone from a six inch blade to no bigger than a pocket knife but it was still razor sharp, as evinced when he threw it at Ron and it cut into the couch after he ducked to avoid it. Ron yelped in fear but couldn't resist getting one last taunt in. "Little girl, what kind of throw was that? My little sister can beat that! You're just a weak little girl!" He let out a terrified scream as Scabior picked up a heavy book Hermione had left laying out and slung it at him, full force. The boy might only be three years old at the moment but he still had his werewolf strength. The book clocked Ron on the side of the head, neatly knocking him out. Scabior ran into the bathroom and grabbed the pair of scissors he'd seen the previous day. He grabbed a handful of his hair and whacked it off. Then he reached for another handful.

Hermione had just gotten off work and come through the Floo. She was pleased to see Molly there. It'd been a while since their last visit. After exchanging hugs, she was sent to get out of her work clothes. Apparently, there had been a bit of drama with the children. She rolled her eyes. 'Oh, no, what had they done now?'

She was looking forward to seeing Scabior. She couldn't wait to listen to him chattering as he followed her around the room. She needed to use the loo first. She walked in and saw the scissors poised. Before she could do more than yell, "No, baby, no! You don't cut your hair by yourself!" Scabior whacked off another handful of hair. The only long length remaining was his red streaked braid. Hermione jumped forward and claimed the scissors before he could cut the braid off. "Scabior, sweetie, why did you cut your hair?" Before he could answer, Annemarie and Andromeda came running, gasping as they saw the scissors in Hermione's hand. "Scabior! No, baby, you don't play with scissors by yourself! Why did you cut your hair?!" Annemarie asked sternly.

He looked at them, teary eyed. "Not a guwl! Not a guwl, Myla! No long haiw! I'm a boy, not a guwl!" he wailed unhappily as he stomped his feet. Just then, Ginny came to check on them and informed them of the unconscious Ron in the other room. Teddy had been right there, but as he was even younger then Scabior, he had no way of telling them what had happened. Hermione noticed that there was an empty loop on his belt. She grabbed him into her arms, hoping she was wrong. They got back to the drawing room in time to see Harry bent over the couch, inspecting the knife.

"Harry." She spoke simply. He turned and she indicated the empty pocket on Scabior's belt. He almost chuckled but bit his lip instead. He pointed wordlessly to Ron, out cold with a heavy book in the floor beside him. Parvati was sitting beside him, monitoring his pulse and checking for further injuries. Hermione face palmed as she realized there had been some type of conflict between the two, especially when Scabior looked down and bared his teeth in Ron's direction. Only now did she notice that his eyes were glowing amber. It was the third time since he'd met Grace that she'd seen that. The other times had been the confrontations with his father, causing him to almost lose control of himself. "Scabior, sweetie, what happened? Why did you cut your hair?" she asked him gently as she sat down on the couch. Harry pulled the knife loose and she unfastened the holster belt. It said a lot, about how upset Scabior was, that they were able to get it away from him without a hissy fit. At that time, however, he was more worried about cuddling up to her than keeping his beloved belt.

"Won call me little guwl! Not a guwl, Myla! Not a guwl! I'm a little boy!" he looked up at her earnestly. Hermione had to pull him close. 'Bless it!' she thought as she met Harry's amused gaze.

"Of course, you're a little boy! Ron was just being silly, sweetie! He got scolded and sometimes boys do silly things after they've been scolded." Hermione soothed him. As far as haircuts went, the boy had cut it amazingly straight, a little snip here and there would easily set it right. She was just glad she'd caught him before he cut the red braid off. She wasn't sure how fond he was of his long hair. He kept it neatly brushed, but pulled back into a loose ponytail most of the time or so it seemed, every time she'd seen him. Therefore she didn't worry about his reaction to the haircut, but she knew he was attached to that braid! She'd seen him toy with it more than she played with her own hair. She just knew, if she had let him whack off that braid, he would completely go haywire!

They revived Ron and made him apologize to Scabior for calling him a little girl. Then they made Scabior apologize for throwing a knife and knocking Ron out with a book. After that, they kept the two of them separated for the rest of the day. After supper, the boys were finally allowed to play together again. After eyeing each other warily, they began playing tag again, along with Teddy and Grace.

Hermione was sitting on the couch, holding baby Alex. Scabior climbed up beside her. "Who dat?" he asked, staring at the infant intently. "This is Alex, your cousin." Hermione told him. He eyed her, then checked out the boy again. He snuggled into her side, sliding his hand in between her and Alex. Hermione almost snorted as she bit her lip. She looked over at Ginny and Parvati. His jealous side was showing again. They were holding back their laughter with difficulty. Annemarie and Andromeda walked into the room. They immediately realized the situation. "Children, bath time!" Annemarie took baby Alex and Grace. Andromeda took Teddy. Scabior followed his mother, looking back at Hermione. Parvati took Ron to the third bathroom to bathe him.

Hermione wandered up to help Annemarie. As the tub filled up for Grace and Scabior, Annemarie bathed Alex in the bathroom sink. She only allowed them to have a few inches of water. They had a splash fight, giggling madly as Hermione tried to keep them from throwing water into the floor. Annemarie had taken Alex to his crib and came back in time to see the children thoroughly drench Hermione in a big wave of bubbly water. Hermione shrieked as the water hit her. The children looked proud of themselves and laughed uproariously. Annemarie had to laugh, even as she scolded the children for wetting the bathroom floor.

They were brought out of the tub, dried off and put into pajamas for Scabior and a little nightdress for Grace. Annemarie read to Grace and Hermione red to Scabior. The children drifted off to sleep. Ron and Teddy were already fast asleep. Hermione watched Scabior a little longer to make sure he was asleep, then she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

She went to their room and changed for bed. They only had one more day to get through before Ron and Scabior were big again. She couldn't wait! They had so much to talk about and she'd been saving bits and pieces of memories to show him once he was full size again.


	15. babysitting my 3 yr old boyfriend pt 3

Babysitting my three year old boyfriend: part 3

The last day of the De Aging potion. Will they make it through another day of shenanigans? Stick around and find out!

Wednesday morning found Hermione, again, waking up to find little Scabior sitting on her chest, patiently waiting for her to open her eyes. He climbed under the covers again and snuggled up to her before falling back asleep. She looked at her alarm, once again he had timed it perfectly. She had two hours to snuggle with him before she had to get up for work. She smiled, held him tightly and drifted back to sleep.

Two hours later, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Parvati, Ron, Annemarie and Andromeda were sitting at the table. Teddy Lupin wasn't awake yet, neither was Grace and Ron had woken Parvati up, much in the same manner as Scabior had Hermione. Parvati was already dressed for work. They were all waiting to see how long it took Hermione to wake up and get ready. Some days she was right on time, other days she barely made it down in time to run out the door.

They heard the water turn on upstairs. Parvati looked at the clock. "Looks like today will be an on time day." Unaware of what was really going on upstairs, they continued eating breakfast. Harry set out a plate of pancakes for Scabior and packed a sandwich for Hermione's lunch. If he didn't send food with her, he suspected she didn't even bother to eat at work.

Meanwhile, in Hermione's room, Scabior had woken up first. Going to the end of the bed, he climbed down the same trunk he'd climbed up to reach the bed. Waiting for her to wake up again, he wandered around the room. He pulled all the drawers out and scattered her underwear and clothes out on the floor. Finding the same pair of knickers again, he smiled and stuck them back on his head. He saw her makeup on the low dressing table. He started opening bottles and sniffing everything. Pretty soon, he discovered that he could actually draw with the lipsticks and foundation. The mascara got smeared all across the mirror. The powders were used as finishing touches on the artwork he put all along her walls.

Picking up a bra, he looked it all over, wondering what she used it for. He slung it around and noticed it looped. Going to the wardrobe, he looped one end over the door knob. He could just reach it, standing on his tip toes. Losing his balance, he hung onto the bra as it swung him around. Chuckling, he amused himself quite a few minutes, looping different ones over the knob and swinging on them. Suddenly, his eyes lit on the curtains, more specifically the curtain rods. He pushed her stool over to the wall, threw one end of a bra straight up and caught the rod on the first try. Hanging on the other end, he grinned as he was really swinging now. He dropped to the floor and kept exploring.

After using her makeup to decorate the wall and amusing himself with her bras, he went to the bathroom. He opened up the cabinets and discovered the boxes underneath. He pulled one open and saw some weird toys. He couldn't figure out if they were supposed to be boats or what. He pulled a few apart, to see what the inside of them looked like. He pulled another box out and opened what looked to him like bandages. They weren't rough and scruffy, though. They were soft and squishy. He peeled a strip of paper off the back and shrugged. Then he realized the middle of the bandage was sticky. He stuck it to the wall. It stayed. His eyes lit up as he started ripping all the bandages open and sticking them all around the bathroom wall. He picked up one of the little boat looking things to throw it away and dropped it into the toilet where, he quickly discovered, it floated. He ripped all of them open and tossed them into the sink, where he turned on the water.

Tossing the boat from the toilet into the sink, he climbed up and opened all her shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotions bottles. He turned them over and emptied them into the toilet. He used her toothpaste as homemade paint and painted her a pretty picture on the vanity mirror. He heard a purring sound. Looking down, he saw Crookshanks. He climbed down to pet the cat and remembered something that his Myla said. "You tink, Cwooks. You need a baff." Before poor Crookshanks knew what was happening, Scabior had lifted the big cat and dropped him into the toilet bowl! Crookshanks yowled for help.

Downstairs, they quickly realized that Hermione was taking longer than she needed to. But the water was running. That's when they remembered that she wasn't the only one up there. Scabior might be distracting her again. But it shouldn't be this long of a distraction, surely?

They all rushed upstairs, Ginny grabbed the camera impulsively. As they cracked the door to her room, they could hear a voice, not voices, A voice from the bathroom and it definitely wasn't Hermione. As the door swung open, Harry clapped his hand over his mouth. When the others crept in, they saw why.

Every one of her drawers were emptied out. Some of her bras had evidently been used as climbing gear because they were over the ends of the curtain rods and door knobs on the wardrobe. Her makeup had been used to draw all over the walls and her perfume bottles were all empty. Ginny was photographing it all. They went to the bathroom door and Harry couldn't hold back any longer. He burst out laughing and ran out of the room. The bathroom was plastered with pads, all round the bottom of the wall and tampons clogged in the overflowing sink. There were more drawings on the mirror, with toothpaste this time. And there, in the middle of everything, was little Scabior. He was wearing a pair of her frilly pink knickers on his head as he washed Crookshanks in the toilet bowl, singing to himself, "Wishy wash the kitta cat, wishy wash the kitta cat!" Poor Crookshanks was loudly complaining to the world but unable to pull away from the child. Ron started laughing loudly as he hopped over and started helping him 'wash' the cat. Parvati went to the bed to wake up Hermione.

"Hermione, sweetie, you might want to see this." Hermione opened her eyes. "What? Parvati? What's going on?" just then she heard Crookshanks caterwauling from the bathroom. "CROOKS! What's wrong with Crooks?!" she jumped up and dashed to the bathroom.

As she showed up in the door, Scabior turned around. "Tuwpwise, Myla! Kitta cat clean now, don't tink no mowe!" Hermione sank weakly to her heels and she helplessly burst out laughing. Her pads and tampons were destroyed, as was all her bathroom toiletries. She turned her head enough to see the 'artwork' on her wall. No doubt, that had taken all her makeup. Her adorable little boyfriend was wearing her underwear on his head! And he'd given her grouchy ass cat a bath! She held her arms out and Scabior quickly ran to her. "Oh, sweetheart, thank you. You've cheered me up more than you even know, thank you!"

She got up, picking him up in the process, and went to find some work clothes. Knowing this was the last day he'd be little, she was sorely tempted to lay out of work and spend the day with him. Tonight Greyback would be here to take him until after the full moon. Meeting Parvati's eyes, she realized the other girl also wanted to stay with Ron, but was already dressed for work. She set Scabior down and told him there was pancakes downstairs if he was hungry. Scabior dashed towards the door but stopped and hugged his mother on the way. She led him out of the room and took him downstairs.

Glancing around her room, she and Parvati burst out laughing and used their wands to clean most of the mess up. She would need to sponge the walls to get them clean. She thought she might have some emergency toiletries in her beaded bag so she just threw her hair into a simple twist and she was ready.

Once downstairs, she realized she was once again running late. She grabbed her lunch and started towards the door. Scabior jumped out of his chair and brought her another pancake to eat. She hugged him, kissed his cheeks and told him she'd be back later to play with him. Ron offered Parvati one of his pancakes again. Parvati hugged him and told him to 'be a good boy and don't be fighting with Scabior anymore.'

Harry led the way as they departed for work. Ron was almost done with his breakfast, Scabior was halfway through his stack. Teddy and Grace had just started their stacks. Molly came through the Floo and joined them. As they watched the children eat, she suggested they bring the children to the Burrow for the day. Apparently, there was a sizable Muggle playground down the road and the children might enjoy it.

With their plans made, the grownups set about gathering everything they would need for transporting a five year old, three toddlers and an infant. They didn't bother packing any lunch, knowing Molly would insist that they have lunch at the Burrow. They did pack snacks to tide them over before lunch and until they came back to Grimmauld Place for supper.

Annemarie had to calm down a clearly unhappy Scabior after he was told his holster belt had been put away for safekeeping. "Mum, want my belt, want it, mum!" he sobbed. It broke her heart to tell him no. He ran out of the room and hid from her. They all pitched in to hunt for the child and they finally found him under Hermione's bed, his sad little face still tearstained. He was finally coaxed out after they told him they'd see if Harry would allow him to have his belt back. But he would have to be the best behaved little boy in the world, no tantrums, no back talk and mostly importantly, no fighting with Ron and maybe, just maybe Harry would see fit to let him have his belt back.

They headed to the Burrow and Ginny visited with her father and George for a few moments bore they went to the playground. Ron pulled Scabior upstairs and showed off his room. They played with Ron's toys until Ginny and Annemarie came up to lead them to the playground. As they walked down the long driveway, Scabior was delighted to see the garden gnomes. Ron told him, if they had time, he would teach him how to throw them out of the garden. Scabior skipped excitedly and told his mum that he was going to learn how to 'de gnome' a garden. She listened intently as he and Ron discussed the best way to throw a gnome. Ron told him they might be able to capture them by the arms but gnomes were fast. Personally, he liked latching onto their ears and dragging them to the fence, where he would them throw them over. Scabior was very much looking forward to 'fighting the gnomes.'

They reached the playground. The first piece of equipment Ron and Scabior ran for was the slide. Scabior had never been on one. Ron told him to stay right behind him, going up the ladder. At the top, he stood to one side and had Scabior sit down. Then he sat down behind him, wrapped his arms around the younger child and pushed off. Scabior was simultaneously terrified and thrilled going down the slide. Fortunately, Ginny had guessed where Ron would go first and led Annemarie to the bottom. They waited and caught the boys as they reached the end of the slide. Then Ron led him to the merry go round. They rode it often enough that they were dizzy headed by the time they returned to the Burrow for lunch. After lunch, they went back to Grimmauld Place. The children had run themselves ragged at the playground so they went down for naps.

Upon waking up, Ginny had a brilliant stroke of genius. Hermione had recently brought in a telly and figured out how to make it work. She had also charmed a VCR to work. Then she, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Parvati would sit in the drawing room sometimes, watching muggle movies. She had some children's movies in there, as well, for Teddy to watch. It was one of these that Ginny put in the player as she settled the children in there until supper.

When Hermione came through the Floo, the children came running. "Ah, babies!" she squealed happily. "Babies, everywhere!" They laughed as Ron whispered to them. Gunny, Andromeda and Annemarie watched curiously, they formed a circle around Hermione and Parvati. Ron started it off. "Roasty, toast the princess, roasty toast the princess!" he yelped and ran off. Next it was Scabior, Teddy and Grace's turn. "Woasty, toast the pwincess, woasty toast the pwincess!" they also yelped and ran off.

Hermione burst out laughing. "You let them watch the second Lion King movie, didn't you?" she knew exactly what they had watched and exactly which scene they had just acted out. Ginny and the others were laughing as well, glad Hermione wasn't upset.

They told her today had actually been a relatively quiet day for the children. The only mischief today had been Ron and Scabior plotting the best way to de gnome the garden at the Burrow. They told her and Harry, laughingly, that Scabior, for one, had been bribed to be on his best behavior with the promise that Harry might release his holster belt in return. Harry raised an eyebrow at that news.

Sure enough, a little while later, Harry felt a tug at his pants. It was Scabior, "Hawwy, can I have my belt back? I been a good boy. Mum and Ginny say to ask you. Can I, Hawwy, can I have it back now? I pwomise, I won't thwow my knife at Won anymowe, I pwomise, Hawwy!"

Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing. "You promise, you'll keep being a good boy? No fighting with Ron or the others? No back talk, no tantrums?" the little boy nodded earnestly, staring at him hopefully. "Ok, I'll go get it." Scabior smiled and ran to hug Hermione's leg. "Myla, Hawwy say I can have my belt back now! I gots to be a good boy, though!"

Hermione hugged him back. "Yay, good for you!" she smiled into his hair. She lifted him onto the table in the drawing room and they waited for Harry. He came back, holding the little holster belt. They had already intended to put the belt back on him. She and Parvati had their counter potions brewed. As soon as he and Ron drunk them, they'd be laying down as children and waking back up as their older selves.

She and Parvati put Ron and Scabior on each of the couches and explained that they needed them to test a new drink for them. It wouldn't taste bad, they just needed them to say how they felt about it. The little boys downed the drink. They had lined it with pumpkin juice so they wouldn't suspect anything. They gave it a seal of approval, then started yawning. They fell asleep at the same time.

Hermione had to admit, she was going to miss baby Scabior but she was definitely ready to have big Scabior on the way back. She and Parvati stood back and watched as their boyfriends went from a five and three year old back to their grown up selves. They left them on the couches to sleep it off.

In the kitchen, Ginny, Harry, Andromeda and Annemarie were waiting for them. "Well, are they awake yet?" Harry asked. He had already asked them if they should tell Scabior why he now had short hair. Whether to let him think he'd chopped it off on his own or whether to let him know Ron had goaded him into it. For that matter, they were wondering if he and Ron would remember anything they had done as kids and, if they did, would Ron himself confess to causing him to cut his hair off.

They heard a groan from the doorway, looking up to see Ron stumble into the kitchen. He wandered over and sat down next to Parvati, kissing her absently. "Well, how did it go?" he asked curiously.

"Do you remember anything from the past couple of days, Ron?" they asked.

"Ugh, let's see. Oh, no!" he moaned. "Hermione, we wrecked your bathroom downstairs! I think we might have stolen cookies? And," he sat up alertly. "Bloody hell, he threw a knife and book at me, Hermione! It was my fault, though, I was teasing him about his hair."

They were laughing as he spoke. This led Ron to realize something more had happened. "Bloody hell, what did he do?!"

"He chopped it off, all but his braid." Hermione spoke. "I barely managed to catch him before he chopped it off, too."

Ron goggled as he stared, open mouthed. "So, he's not going to be the long haired Snatcher anymore. Now he's short haired, but for his braid?"

They nodded. He groaned loudly. "Oh, Merlin, he'll kill me!" they laughed again.

Hermione went to check on Scabior. He was still asleep. She got a book, ironically, the same book he'd slung at Ron the previous day. She settled down at his feet and opened her book. She'd only been reading for ten minutes when he began stirring around. She leaned over him as he opened his eyes. He grabbed her by the hair, pulled her down and kissed her. She hummed contently. He sat up slowly.

"Do you remember anything from the past couple of days?" she asked. He wrinkled his brow as he thought, then slowly shook his head. She hadn't thought he would, seeing as he'd been only three. "You were quite the mischievous little devil, you, Ron and Teddy."

"Warned you, didn't I?" he chuckled. Hermione had to smile. He had, indeed, warned them.

"Before you go into the kitchen, I need to let you know something." She out her arms around him. "I used fresh lavender in my potion as opposed to Parvati using dried lavender in her potion. So, um, Ron actually was five but you went younger. Your mum thinks you were about three and let me just say, you were the most adorable little boy!"

He smiled winningly at her. As they spoke, he'd shifted her around to sit on his lap. "Anything else? I'm sure I got in trouble, at least a couple of times." He knew himself too well. She giggled. "Well, don't expect Crookshanks to be too friendly for a few days, you sort of gave him a bath this morning!"

Scabior covered his eyes and grinned sheepishly. Hermione stood up and pulled him up. "Also, you might want to go look in the bathroom mirror. It doesn't look bad, we got it trimmed evenly but still it might shock you for a while." His grin faded. "What?"

As he processed what she'd just said, he reached up to run his fingers through his hair, as usual. She watched him fearfully. She knew the exact second he realized it. He ran his fingers back, then froze, his eyes shot wide. He ran into the bathroom.

In the kitchen, they were waiting for the explosion. They heard them quietly talking, then he ran to the bathroom. A split second later, there was an outraged howl of horrified anger from the bathroom. "AAAAAAHHHH! Bloody hell! What the hell happened here?!"

They couldn't help it. They all burst into laughter. He sounded so horrified at having short hair. Annemarie had hoped he wouldn't take the loss of his hair too bad.

"I'm a freak, a bald headed freak! They're all gonna make fun of me! I won't have any fur!" he screamed in frustration. At that moment, Fenrir and Mary came through the Floo. Harry waved them over to the table and explained the situation.

Hermione had followed him to the bathroom. "Scabior? It doesn't look bad at all, I promise." He was staring, horrified at his own reflection. There was a knock at the door. Them it opened, revealing Fen. Scabior whipped around. "FEN! Look at me! I'm a bald headed freak! I won't have any fur tomorrow night! They're all gonna make fun of me!" he sounded perilously close to crying. Fen smiled and pulled him close. "No, they won't, pup. It's not that short, don't worry, you'll still have fur."

"You promise?" Scabior asked, uncertainty.

"I promise." Fen said firmly. "Come on, Mary's in the kitchen visiting Alex and Grace before we go. She'll enjoy see you with short hair. It'll remind her of when you were younger."

Scabior obediently followed Fenrir back to the kitchen, looping his arm around Hermione's waist and pulling her with him. He kissed her on the temple right before they went through the door. Mary looked up and smiled. "Scabior, you look like the sweet little child Fenrir first brought me." She got up, walked around the table and gave her foster son a tight hug. She pulled him down to her and kissed him on the forehead. "I see you kept this one, though." She teased, flipping at his red braid. He smiled at her.

They visited a few moments longer, then Scabior went for his bag. Hermione followed him upstairs. They held each other tightly. "Don't worry, beautiful. I'll be back before you know it."

"Friday evening, right? We don't have to go to the Riot, we'll stay in, watch movies and relax." Hermione suggested. "Friday evening, I'll be here, darling."

They went back down. With a last hug and kiss, Scabior released Hermione and followed Fenrir and Mary through the Floo.

Ok, peeps. De Aging potion experiment is finished! Grown up Scabior is back!


	16. After the full moon

After the full moon

Baby werewolves. The full moon passes. Scabior gets a scolding and restriction. The love birds have their first argument.

After Scabior, Fen and Mary left, they sat around the table, talking, putting off as long as they could, putting up the cages Grace, Teddy Lupin and Alex would need to sleep in while at least two of them transformed tonight. Hermione held Alex close, if she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine him to be her and Scabior's child. Alex had grown considerably since leaving the hospital. There, he was ignored, fed only as often as necessary and basically treated as if he wasn't even there. Under the loving attention of Fen and Mary, he was now smiling a big gummy grin at her, blue eyes sparkling. Fen had told them werewolf children tended to grow faster than human children. Considering he was barely a month old and already trying to stand up, she tended to believe that. Running her fingers through the little fluff of baby soft hair, she wondered if he really would transform like Grace and Teddy. Looking down as he grabbed her hand and nuzzled it, she was starting to have doubts about that.

Suddenly the little boy looked up at her, bared his teeth and growled! His eyes had taken on an amber glow, the same way she'd seen in Scabior and Grace. That small growl was the only warning she had before he snapped at her hand. She was able to evade him, barely.

"Harry, he's going to transform! He tried to bite me!" she had him held against her and he was squirming and snarling at her. They took the children upstairs, got the cages set up and lined with blankets. By this time, Teddy and Grace were also growling and snarling. They got them into the cages and watched as they transformed.

Without knowing that the transformation was supposed to be painful, they transformed almost seamlessly. Two small pups romped around playfully. The third pup was smaller, no bigger than a newborn. He was struggling to gain his feet. The other pups came to watch him, yipping encouragement at the youngest pup. He finally got his feet under him and wobbled over to meet them through the bars of the cages. Harry pointed his wand and levitated the cages into a straight line, then he and Hermione raised one bar each and connected the three cages into one long area for the pups to play in. The three, after investigating each other, began racing around yipping in excitement. They didn't want to leave the pups by themselves. Since Harry, Ron, Hermione and Parvati had to work the next day, Ginny, Andromeda and Annemarie sat up with them. Ginny thought they might, in wolf from, not be old enough to be weaned yet. She went downstairs and prepared three bottles of formula. As she came back into the room, the pups were setting up a commotion that would wake up any neighborhood. She handed a bottle each to the older witches and offered a bottle to the youngest pup. After snarling at her, the milk scent hit his nose and he latched eagerly onto the bottle. After getting their tummies full, they romped and tumbled over each other, pulling on ears and chasing tails. Finally, they settled down and went to sleep.

Ginny had taken the camera to document what each child's wolf looked like. Due to his metamorph talent, inherited from Tonks, Teddy had a slight bluish tinge to his fur, Grace was a pretty little wolf with reddish fur, Alex was a tiny dark brown wolf with red ears. She knew Hermione would be especially interested to see the picture of Alex. Annemarie had told them seeing Alex was just like having Scabior back as an infant. So this picture would show her what Scabior, himself, looked like as a wolf.

The baby wolves woke up three more times during the night, howling until they were fed, then tumbling about and play fighting until they went back to sleep. As the sun rose Friday morning, each child slowly transformed back to their human state. They woke up wide eyed and ready to run. They were let out of the cage and clothed, one by one. Much to the surprise of the witches, little Alex sat up on his own and shakily pushed to his feet. With Teddy on one side and Grace on the other, the child laughed delightedly as he took a few wobbly steps, the older pups hanging on and balancing him.

Hermione came into the room, for once, up early and already dressed for work. She looked at the pictures of the babies. As Ginny had thought, she was most interested in the picture of Alex. Then she turned and watched the little boy's shaky progress moving around the room. She knelt in front of him and held out her arms. He tumbled into them as he snuggled against her. He obviously shared some characteristics with his older cousin as he pushed higher and buried his little face in her hair.

She laughed softly and carried him carefully downstairs. Harry looked up and blinked. She looked so natural, holding the boy. He'd seen the possessive look on Scabior's face the day she held Alex at the Leaky Cauldron. He wondered how long it would take Scabior to ask her to marry him. It was obvious to them all that the couple were meant to be together. He knew they would probably want their own place but maybe he could talk them into buying fairly close to Grimmauld Place and the Leaky Cauldron. That way, they'd still be close to both him and Tom.

"That's a good look for you, 'Mione." He told her. Ron chuckled as she turned red, holding the baby closer. Parvati circled around to coo at the boy, who grinned happily at her.

"I bet you can't wait until tonight. Scabior will be coming here, won't he?" she asked. Hermione nodded.

"Yes, he'll be sore and I told him we could stay in and watch movies here. He's never seen a movie. He was very interested in them. Especially after I told him about the Lion King reenactment he, Ron and the others put on. That's the first one he wants to watch." She laughed as Ron's ears turned slightly red. "Also, I'm putting him on parole."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, mildly concerned. He had a feeling that it concerned the knife incident.

"I'm going to start confiscating his belt while he's here. That way I can be sure he won't be throwing anymore knives anytime soon." She said firmly.

"He won't like being unarmed, Hermione. You realize that, right? Besides, that was while we, me and him, were little. You're going to punish him for something he did while not fully in control of himself?" Ron cocked a brow at her. "He didn't hit me, you know. The book was what actually knocked me out."

"I know that, Ron. I don't want to take his weapon away but it'll only be a little while. Just while he's here in the house. It's not like I'm taking it away from him entirely. He just has to surrender the belt temporarily. I don't want him trying to fight you again and, this time, really meaning it if he decides to do any more knife throwing." Hermione explained her reasoning.

Both boys looked doubtful. They weren't looking forward to sharing a house with a weaponless Scabior, he was liable to be more dangerous that way. At least, with his belt on, you knew where his weapons were! Harry remembered something else. "He's definitely not going to like being weaponless this weekend, Hermione. Please tell me it's ONLY the knives you're taking. He will still have his wand, right?"

"Of course, he'll still have his wand. It wasn't a wand he threw at Ron, Harry! He won't be completely defenseless, you know! I'm not THAT cruel!" Hermione tut-tutted Harry.

"Good. When will he be here, this evening? I have something to discuss with both of you." Harry looked so serious that Hermione sobered down. "This is about his dad, isn't it?"

Harry didn't answer but his looking away from her gave him away. "He should be here around the same time we get off work." At the thought of Scabior's father, Hermione felt her heart clench in fear. The man had come entirely too close to causing her to kill Scabior. Even now, she could still feel the fear of seeing that spell flash out of her wand and connect with Scabior, the horror of watching him drop like a stone! Had he not been a werewolf, she would have lost him before she had had the chance to even know more about him! Her arms involuntarily tightened around Alex, causing him to whimper as he scented the sudden fear coming from her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, laying her cheek on top of his fuzzy hair, remembering how close he'd come to being thrown to the muggle world because his grandfather was an unfeeling arse!

Harry's face tightened in pain at the fear on her face. 'Gods, he hadn't wanted to tell her anything. He'd tried his best all week long to get the slick bastard's trial set up immediately. The damn tosser either had more connections than he'd thought or he had that many people in fear of him.' He went to put his arms around her, holding her and Alex as tightly as he dared. "Don't worry, 'Mione, everything will be ok, I promise. Let's just go onto work and we'll talk about it when we get in. Scabior will be here by then, he needs to hear this, too."

Ginny came in and took Alex as Hermione stood up. Breathing deeply to calm her nerves, she nodded and grabbed her lunch. She was unable to keep from thinking about things all day. By the time they all got home that evening, she was a nervous wreck. Now she was also realizing why Harry and Ron had been antsy about her taking Scabior's knives. They gathered in the kitchen to wait, knowing Fen and Mary would be with him to collect Alex and Grace.

At six, the Floo opened up and Scabior came through, followed by Fen and Mary. Annemarie held Grace and Hermione was cuddling Alex again. She motioned Fen and Mary to stand back as she knelt and sat Alex down. He looked up at her adoringly and then stood, hanging onto her smock top. He turned and wobbled a couple of steps toward Fen and Mary. Mary had her hands clapped over her mouth in delight. Fenrir was smiling, holding his hands out to the little boy. Alex latched onto them, just as he lost his balance and plopped down on his bottom. Fen laughed and scooped him up. "Oh, I almost forgot. You did the right thing, bringing an extra cage. Alex did transform last night! Ginny had pictures of him, Grace and Teddy to show what all three of their wolves look like! They're so adorable, they didn't even seem to be in that much pain from transforming, either!" she told Fen, who looked happy to hear the pup wouldn't have been in any danger, after all.

Scabior had watched the little boy's efforts expressionlessly but Hermione could still detect his jealousy at seeing Fen interact with the child. She stood and grabbed his hands, pulling him over to the table. She pushed him into a chair and said, "We need to talk." Scabior was suddenly watching her warily. Fen and Mary stood against the wall after Harry motioned them to stay.

"You threw a knife at Ron." She stated simply.

Scabior was unable to tell if she was angry at him or telling him what he'd done. He honestly couldn't remember anything he'd done as a three year old. "Ok? Um," he leaned around her and peered at Ron. "Sorry for that. Not sure why I did it but sorry, won't happen again." He looked back at her, figuring she'd wanted him to apologize to the ginger. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I WAS going to request that you surrender your belt while we were here but I've since been told that it might not be such a good idea. Therefore, I won't ask for the belt BUT the next time you fight Ron and throw a knife at him, I WILL confiscate that belt. At the present time, there's a good reason why I can't confiscate it right now. Harry, your turn." She stepped back. At the first mention of his beloved holster belt, Scabior's eyes had narrowed and stayed that through her whole statement.

Harry stepped forward. "First of all, Scabior, let me just say I'm glad you apologized straightaway for throwing the knife. And promising it wouldn't happen again. Second, I actually hadn't planned on taking your belt myself. Now, I just want you to know, I've been trying all week long to get your father's trial jumpstarted. Unfortunately, he has more pull than we thought."

"The Ministry did still have him in custody but as of today, he was released, with a tracking monitor, to house arrest with all the henchmen that were charged alongside him." He paused as Scabior cursed a blue streak. "Yeah, my feelings exactly. Therefore, we had discussed some security measures last week, Fen and I. Some of your brothers will be coming to the Leaky Cauldron Sunday night to help you protect Tom during the week and keep him safe while you're here on the weekends." Harry glanced at Fen to confirm that as Fenrir nodded.

"I will be placing Aurors at every entrance on every floor of St. Mungo's to protect Hermione and Parvati while they work. This house is under a Fidelius charm and can only be connected to the Cauldron and other places at mine and Hermione's discretion. Your father's owl, obviously, can find its inhabitants but it can't directly lead anyone here. For that, they would need to grab either Hermione or myself and force us to lead them here. This is why I want your mother here and you here on the weekends."

"If I have to, we will set up a mini Riot for you and Hermione to dance at. But from today, you and Hermione are both under strict protective measures until we get rid of the threat of your father. Before you object to this, remember Fen is working with me on keeping you safe."

Scabior slumped into the chair as he chewed his lower lip. He shocked them all as he unfastened his holster belt, stood and handed it to Hermione. She took it and held it against her. "You aren't mad at me?" she peered at him hopefully.

He pulled her close. "No, beautiful, I'm not mad. Not at you anyway. The old bastard is another story! He's not going to take any of this laying down, you know that, Potter? He's going to keep trying to kill my mum and he'll be sure to try again with me, I'm sure. As long as my mum is safe, I'm not worried about myself. I dare the old bastard to come after me. I'll shred his arse quicker than he can say my name!" he gathered his mother into his arms alongside Hermione. Just holding the both of them made him breathe easier. He couldn't stand the thought of losing his mother again and just the thought of losing Hermione was enough to make him want to run out, find the old bastard and shred his arse right then and there. The only reason he didn't was because that would send HIM to Azkaban, away from his mother and his little beauty.

"Now that we have that settled. Fen, would you and Mary care to join us for supper? We can talk about some more security measures and you can see the pictures Hermione mentioned. Also we can show you memories of while Scabior was three, you definitely need to see those!" Harry's face was suddenly alight with mischief. Ron's face was blood red as he ducked it, snorting with laughter. Scabior was regarding them with a confused frown, especially as Hermione and his mother started giggling as well. At seeing that, Fen decided he most definitely needed to see those memories! As Mary let Grace back on her feet to go play with Teddy until supper, she joined the rest of the girls in preparing it. Harry and Ron led Fen and Scabior to the living room where there was a pensieve set up.

Harry first tipped in the memory of the first day, in the downstairs bathroom. Fenrir fell up laughing as he watched the little boys 'decorate' the bathroom to cheer 'Mione up. Then they tipped Annemarie's memory into the bowl. Scabior hid his face as he watched himself with the knickers.

Next they viewed Ron's memory of taking them through the Floo. He covered his laughter at the women's panic over losing the boys. Scabior frowned and growled as he was blamed for Ron taking them through the Floo in the first place. He smiled proudly as Molly seemed to take a liking to him, especially after hearing how Hermione could be riled up over him before they ever met again!

Then they were all able to see what had caused what Harry was coming to call, 'the knife incident'. They watched as Ron mocked Scabior's long hair, watching the three year old get angrier the longer he was teased. Suddenly the knife came out and was thrown. They were all impressed at the uncanny accuracy he had even at three years of age! Then he threw the book, knocked Ron out and that was the end of the memory. Then the next memory was Hermione barely catching him in time to keep him from cutting off the red braid! The belt was confiscated, apologies were made and the boys separated for a while.

The next memory had evidently been taken from Scabior. He was in Hermione's room, having just woken up and climbed to the floor. They all began chuckling as the drawers were pulled out and emptied, the makeup investigated and painted with and the powders used last of all. Fen was especially amused by the knickers he was wearing. Scabior groaned, knowing Fen wouldn't let him live THAT down for a while! They laughed like crazy at seeing him using her bras as swinging vines. Then he went to her bathroom. From the time he ripped open the first tampon until they came in to find him 'bathing' Crookshanks, all four of them were laughing so hard they were practically rolling on the floor! Fen watched as he and Ron wore themselves out at the Muggle playground and conspired on the best way to de gnome a garden. He was just as amused watching the Lion King reenactment as Hermione had been. He recognized the puppy dog eyes that Scabior was using to get his belt back from Harry, Scabior having quickly learned that was one of the fastest ways to get something he wanted. Then he watched Scabior freaking out over the loss of his long hair. He clapped the boy on the shoulder and pulled him close, still chuckling madly.

As they came up out of the memories, Scabior looked at Ron with a serious frown. Ron gulped, wondering if he needed to be ready to duck or run away. Instead, Scabior surprised him. "You still owe me a lesson in de gnoming a garden, you know!" he grinned. He and Harry would have to take Scabior to the Burrow one day soon and he and Scabior could de gnome the garden for his mother. "As soon as me and Harry get some extra wards put up, you and I will go de gnome the garden for my mother, yeah?" he and Scabior shook on it.

They all went into the kitchen. Supper, that evening, was a very boisterous affair, with everyone laughing and joking around. Fen told Harry that he'd had seven cubs to volunteer to help their little brother, instead of the original five. There were several more thinking of joining them after they made sure their mates would be looked after while they were gone. The additional number was reassuring to Harry because he knew there would be at least a time or two that Hermione would insist they stay at the Cauldron to give Tom equal weekend time with Scabior.

After supper, Fen and Mary took Alex and Grace home. Hermione led Scabior to the drawing room to show him the telly and get him settled in. She went to the kitchen and brought back some snacks for them. They conjured a blanket and snuggled together to watch the movie.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Parvati were all in the kitchen, having a last cup of tea before they retired for the night. They could hear a soft conversation from the drawing room and figured Hermione and Scabior would, more than likely, fall asleep watching the movie. It wouldn't be the first time Hermione had fallen asleep in there. Gradually, however, they realized the voices were getting louder and turning into a full blown argument!

Scabior was enthralled by the movie, the first one he'd ever seen. He had to admit, Muggles had found their own way to create their own brand of magic. He was even more amazed when Hermione told him of movie theaters when these movies were shown in a much larger size than the telly they were currently watching. They made plans to go and watch a movie, after everything was resolved with his dad.

"So, we know how my parents are. How are your parents, beautiful?" he murmured softly.

"They're good, I guess, I haven't actually seen them in a while." She didn't want to think about them right now.

"Potter said there was some trouble with them. What kind of trouble?" he shifted around, pulling her closer.

"They didn't like it that I put a Memory charm on them. They called it a betrayal that I chose Harry over them. They wouldn't have been able to protect themselves and Harry NEEDED me! So I chose to protect them in the only way I could see, at that time. Then I chose to go with Harry and protect HIM as well. They chose not to understand why I did what I did." Hermione could feel tears starting to try and well up.

"How long, now, has it been since the last time you saw them?" he turned her in his lap. Looking into her eyes, he could see she was about to start crying.

"It's been almost five months. I went and returned their memories shortly after the war. I even gave them the option of coming home or staying there, if they wanted to. They chose to come home and they acted like they understood why I did it. But then they saw my arm, the scar, from Bellatrix. I had to explain how bad things had gotten in our world and that's when they told me I had betrayed them for choosing Harry over them. I stormed out and I haven't been back since then." A few tears escaped.

"So, does this mean I don't have to worry about meeting any in-laws besides Harry and the Weasley family?" he gently teased.

She whipped around to glare at him. "Why? You don't want to meet my parents?! Afraid they'll torn me against you?! Try to make me dump you?!"

He leaned away from her. "Just what brought that on? Did I say I didn't want to meet them?! You don't want to talk about them, you don't want to think about them but you're angry because you think I DON'T want to meet them?!"

"I'm allowed to NOT want to talk about them or not think about them. They're my parents! I don't criticize YOU over your parents, do I?!" she was building up a full head of steam.

"We aren't talking about my parents, they're already squared away! We were talking about YOUR parents! Maybe I actually WANT to meet them! Maybe you're too ashamed of ME, of WHAT I AM to want to introduce me to them! Is that it?! You're ashamed of me?!" he growled angrily.

"What if I am?! What about you? Couldn't tell your father a simple NO, could you?! Had to threaten him with wanting a mudblood wife before he'd leave you alone, didn't you?! Were you even serious about marrying me or was that some big fantasy to piss your dad off?!" she screamed at him.

"I was serious but I don't think you were! Can't have a Snatcher in the family, can you, nor a Death Eater! Do you know how many girls would KILL to be in your shoes right now?! Even with me being a werewolf?! I could go out and get ANYONE, right now!" he snarled at her, his eyes glowing bright amber!

"Good! Why don't you just throw yourself back out there, right now! See if I care! GO! GET OUT! NOW!" she threw the remote at him and ran out of the room, crying. Harry and the others rushed out of the kitchen in time to see him run of the drawing room. He sprinted to the front door and grabbed the door handle. "Scabior!"

"Open this door, Potter. Before I blast it open! I'm leaving!" he grabbed his wand in time to hear, "Accio, Scabior's wand!" he whipped around to glare at them with amber eyes and bared teeth. "Give me back my WAND, Potter! NOW! You heard her, I know you had to, she wasn't trying to hide it! She wants me gone! Now, let me out of here!"

At that moment, the curtain covering the portrait of Mrs. Black whipped back and she began screaming, adding her unwanted two cents to the scene. "Traitor! Blood traitor! Werewolf, cursed beast, get out of my home!"

Scabior hissed, actually HISSED, angrily as he looked up at the old lady. "You keep your old gob shut, you moldy old biddy, or I'll shred you seven ways to hell and back!" the portrait was so gob smacked that she had nothing else to say.

"Scabior, listen, please! You're mad and so is Hermione. Just come back, sit down, you can't leave." At the angry look sent his way, Harry improvised an excuse. "Your belt! She still has your belt, remember? And, and your bag! It's still in her room, you're going to leave both of them here?"

Scabior thumped his hand against the door angrily but turned and followed them back to the kitchen. He slumped into a chair and held his head in his hands, his elbows on the table. "She hates me, Potter! I should have known this wouldn't work out. It didn't work out a year ago, why didn't I see that it wouldn't be any better this time?!"

"You can't give up, Scabior, not this fast! She just, talking about her parents really upsets her, we should have warned you about that. This whole argument could have been avoided. Listen. Ginny and Parvati have gone up to talk to her. If they can't get her calmed down, they'll bring your stuff down and I'll open the Floo directly to the Leaky Cauldron. You don't need to be outside protective wards. We're warded and so is the Cauldron. Okay? Let's just wait and see if they can work any magic before you leave." Harry could see his words were calming Scabior down. He just hoped Ginny and Parvati were having the same luck with Hermione!

Ginny walked into the kitchen, just then. She was holding his belt and bag. "Hermione already had these sitting in the hall by the time we got up there. She won't open the door or answer us. Scabior, don't give up on her. We'll keep trying but you might want to go back to the Cauldron tonight. Hopefully, we'll catch her tonight or tomorrow and sit her down, okay? Just don't give up on her yet."

Harry huffed as he stared at Ginny. She shrugged silently back. There was nothing they could do except try to encourage the couple not to lose hope. They'd have to work the argument out on their own. He returned Scabior's wand and opened the Floo connection to the Leaky Cauldron. Scabior fattened his belt took his bag and walked through.


	17. After the fight

After the fight

Harry tries to keep the peace. Hermione makes a misstep. Scabior Sr. is back for more trouble. Hermione's parents are in the picture now. The love birds are reunited.

Scabior made it almost past the bar before Tom realized he was back. "Scabior, you ok, boy?" Scabior went behind the bar and wordlessly laid his head on Tom's shoulder. Having seen the shiny look in his eyes, Tom simply laid an arm across the boys back. He wondered what Scabior and little miss had argued about. Whatever it was, it had sent Scabior retreating back to the Cauldron. He patted the boy on the beck roughly. "Go on up, get some sleep, rest. We'll talk tomorrow, ok?" Scabior nodded and went up the stairs.

Hermione laid on her bed, finally dry eyed. She knew it had been wrong of her to blow up at Scabior. He was just asking a simple question. He couldn't help it that she and her parents hadn't spoken in so long. That wasn't even her parents' fault, it was hers. She got up, went to her bathroom and splashed water on her face.

She'd left the little toothpaste drawing on her mirror. She smiled at it. 'God, she was in deep! She'd already known last year, after that first unintentional encounter with him, that she'd be in trouble if he ever caught them! She'd been halfway in love with him by the time he did catch them! It was why Harry was able to rile her up so easily over him! She closed her eyes in shame, remembering what all she'd screamed at him.

She cracked her door open, took a deep breath and started down the stairs. She needed to apologize to him. She walked into the drawing room. He wasn't there. She frowned as she headed to the kitchen. "Harry, where is Scabior?"

"He's gone, Hermione. You told him to get out and he did." Harry looked at her. 'Surely she hadn't thought Scabior would hang around, not after being screamed at like that!' he put a cup of tea in front of her. "He went back to the Cauldron."

"He-what, he went, he-why?! Why would-he-? Harry! He left?!" she cried.

"He thinks you hate him, that this, whatever this is between you, isn't going to work out. His exact words were 'she hates me, it didn't work out a year ago, why did I ever think it would work out better this time'? You really hurt his feelings, Hermione! Why were you yelling at him anyway?" Harry was determined to help them work this out.

"He asked me about my parents. You know how upset I get about them anyway. All he made was one simple comment 'does this mean I don't have to worry about meeting any in laws besides Harry' and, oh god, harry! I totally went off the deep end at him! He'll never forgive me! He asked me if I was ashamed of him being a Snatcher, a Death Eater, and a werewolf. I told him 'what if I was', Harry! He thinks I'm ashamed of him, of being with him! I taunted him about being unable to tell his father a simple no instead of threatening him with a 'mudblood wife!" Hermione laid her head on the table in misery.

Harry sighed and rubbed between his eyes. 'Damn, when the girl went all out to insult someone, she really went ALL OUT!' "I don't know, Hermione, he might have forgiven the other stuff easily enough but that crack about his dad, you know how much Scabior hates his dad! Why would you bring HIM into the conversation at all?!"

"I know, Harry, I know! You don't have to tell me how stupid that was, I already know!" Hermione was wondering if there was any way of digging a hole and just throwing herself in it for the next ten years. 'Why, why, why had she implied, even slightly, being ashamed of him? And, damn it ALL, why had she made that crack about his dad?!'

"Listen, this might not be what you want to hear right now but maybe you should stay apart from him for a while. Let him cool down, give yourself a chance to cool down, too! But, Hermione, sooner or later, you're going to HAVE to face your parents again! That's what caused this, the rift between you and your parents! You have got to go see them, talk to them! It's been seven months, Hermione, seven months you've stayed away from them. If you're ever going to fix things with Scabior, without blowing up at him again, you have got to work things out with your parents!" Hermione knew Harry was right. She'd been dreading it for a while but even she knew it was past time to try and mend fences with her parents. She'd never be happy, by herself or with anyone, until she did.

"You're right. I need to see them. I haven't talked to them since that last day. I haven't even written them or anything. They have no way of getting in touch with me. It'll have to be me going to them." Hermione sighed. She really wasn't looking forward to this. She just knew she was going to end up getting mad and storming out again but, if she was going to have even the slightest hope of a future with Scabior, she needed to do this. As long as she left things unresolved with them, she'd never be able to fully trust herself not to blow up at Scabior over the slightest innocent comments. And that was being selfish of her and unfair to Scabior. For his sake and her own, she needed to, at least, make an attempt to patch things up with them.

"When is your next day off? I'll take the day off as well and we'll go round and see them." Harry offered.

"I don't know, Harry. Part of the fight, in the first place, was over going with you instead of staying with them. I might need to go by myself." Harry was already shaking his head.

"No! I'll stay away, as I seem to be part of the problem but you're NOT to go alone! Not with Scabior's dad looking for revenge against you and Scabior! Did you not hear me?! The man is no longer in Azkaban! He's OUT, on house arrest, true, but he's out of Azkaban! I'll not take a chance with your safety! If I can't accompany you, I'll send guards! You are not to go alone!" Harry was greatly relieved when Hermione agreed to take guards with her. He didn't tell her but they were as much for her parents as they were for her.

The more Hermione thought about it, the more she was sure taking guards with her to her parents' house was not such a good idea. She didn't let on to Harry, though. If he had even an inkling that she was planning to slip off without the guards, he'd plaster himself to her heels and she'd never have any peace. She waited until the next morning. She went to work as usual but, at her lunch break, instead of going to the Leaky Cauldron or home, she went to the restroom. She knew it was the one place the guards wouldn't follow her into. She hurried over to the window and opened it, climbing out and pushing it mostly back closed.

She hurried down the street. The only problem now was getting into Muggle London without going into the Leaky Cauldron. Suddenly she remembered something Harry didn't even know! She had her beaded bag with her and she walked into a woman who looked similar to her.

"Oh, god! I'm so sorry! Are you alright? I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm so sorry, please forgive me!" she cried as she helped the woman to her feet. The woman brushed off her apology. "Not a problem, dear, I wasn't watching where I was going, either. It was just as much my fault!"

After the woman walked off, Hermione smiled and held her hand in front of her face. 'Good thing I never got rid of that Polyjuice Potion.' She pulled out the flask and added the hair to it. After it stopped bubbling, she took a swig. She could feel herself changing. After the change was complete, she walked confidently into the Leaky Cauldron. She faltered and almost teared up when she saw Scabior. He looked so sad. As they passed, she quickened her pace so as not to be tempted to throw her arms around him. She completely missed the arrested look on his face. He turned and looked after her.

Scabior stared at the woman who had just passed him. It wasn't Hermione but damned if she didn't SMELL like his little beauty! He shook his head. 'Damn, she was so far into his head, he was imagining random women to be her!' he went back to cleaning tables as the early birds left and the second wave started. By the time Harry Potter came rushing out of the Floo, he'd totally dismissed the woman from his mind.

"Scabior! Scabior! Have you seen Hermione? She's gone! I went to the hospital to pick her up for lunch and she was gone! The guards said she went to the restroom and didn't come out. Parvati went in and said the window had been opened." Scabior had stiffened as Harry spoke. Harry paced and pulled at his hair.

"I haven't seen her, Potter. Why would she even be here?" Scabior growled.

"Scabior, listen, she came back down last night. It was after you'd left. She was going to apologize to you. She was shocked when she realized you'd really left. I asked her if she really expected you to hang around after that. I told her, if you and her were going to have any kind of future, she needed to straighten out the rift between herself and her parents. She agreed and she was supposed to be taking guards with her but now she's gone!" Harry knew he had to keep Scabior focused on Hermione. It was the only thing he could think of that might help keep them together. If Scabior really thought she'd meant everything she'd screamed at him, he might well decide she was too much trouble and turn his attention to other witches. Harry had just barely made it through Hermione and Ron breaking up, no way he could hold it together if Scabior broke up with her!

While Harry was convincing Scabior to not give up on Hermione, she had made it out of the Cauldron and to a quiet spot where she could apparate to her parents' house. She walked up the sidewalk, never noticing the men stationed at intervals around her parents' house. She knocked on the door and waited.

"Who is- Hermione! James, come quick, dear, Hermione is back!" Janet Granger grabbed her daughter into a tight hug. James came running and engulfed them both into a tight embrace. "God, Hermione, we're so sorry, sweetheart!"

"Hermione, we love you. Yes, we were upset but only because you were in danger and we couldn't protect you! We knew how close you and Harry have always been. We also knew how protective you are over him. Sweetheart, we were mad at ourselves, much more than at you. Don't you see, sweetie, parents are supposed to protect the children, not the other way around and yet we were helpless to protect you!" James lovingly held his daughter as he explained their feelings. Hermione's eyes were swimming with tears. 'Why, why had she stayed away so long?!'

"Darling, we were scared when we said all those things. We were afraid when you found us in Australia. We didn't want to lose you again. But we ended up rowing with you and we drove you away!" Janet sobbed. It was so good to hold her baby again!

"I'm so sorry. I was still grieving after the fight and everyone we lost. I didn't think of anything but getting you back. I should have waited for a while. I knew that it would take a while to explain everything to you. I didn't think how scary it would be for you, suddenly having your memories back, being in a strange place, surrounded by people you didn't know." Hermione and her parents clung together tearfully. It was so good to be here again. She was glad now that she had taken the first step. Now that she had reconciled with her parents, she needed to talk to Scabior. She wanted to bring him to her parents. "Mum, dad, I was wondering I could bring Harry by sometime? He's missed you as much as I did."

"Of course, dear! We'd love to see Harry again! Bring him to dinner! I'll be planning a menu, we'll make a celebration party, alright? We weren't able to help you celebrate your victory then but we can now." Janet exclaimed happily. James rolled his eyes but laughed. Hermione's mum took every chance available to throw a party!

"There's something else I need to tell-." Before she could finish her sentence, there was a huge boom and the front room glass shattered! Hermione and her parents ducked behind the couch as she heard a frighteningly familiar voice from outside shout. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, mudblood! Brightest witch of her Age! One third of the Golden Trio! Come out and face me! YOU'LL NEVER DIRTY OUR LINE! NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO DO ABOUT IT! I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!"

Scabior Sr! What was HE doing here? He was under house arrest! What the devil?! Hermione gasped in fear. She knew, now, why Harry had wanted her under strict protective custody, even here! He'd known Scabior Sr. would try something like this! God, now she had stupidly landed her parents right back in danger!

"Hermione, who is that? What is he talking about?" Janet frantically questioned her daughter.

"I'm dating Michael Scabior. That's his dad outside. He isn't thrilled with either of us! That's what I was about to tell you. I need to send a Patronus to him and Harry, they can help us!" Hermione conjured a Patrons and sent it. Hopefully, they weren't too busy right now.

Back at the Cauldron, the Floo had suddenly come to life as first Ron Weasley came rushing out, looking for Harry. Then Fenrir came out, followed by seven young men. Harry was still fast talking Scabior, trying to keep his hopes up.

"Harry! Scabior! Your dad jumped ship! He and the men confined with him burst out of the wards placed on his house! They're gone! We're tracking their devices but they're literally ALL OVER THE PLACE!" Ron screamed at them. Scabior's eyes widened and he began breathing deeply. Fenrir recognized the signs: the boy was about to go into panic mode!

"Easy, boy, we'll find them! Potter, my boys decided they wanted to come on down today!" Fenrir snapped into action. "Is Granger safe, Potter? We can help you track them down."

Harry swore. "No need! I can tell you exactly where he might be! Hermione slipped out of the hospital! Ten to one, she's gone to see her parents! If he's really bound and determined to keep her and Scabior apart, more than likely he's found out everything about her and it would lead him straight to her parents!"

Scabior was leaning against the wall, bent over, trying to catch his breath. He had both hands clenched in his hair, trying to calm down. At that moment, a silver Otto floated into view and surrounded him. They all heard it plainly.

"SCABIOR! HELP ME! GET HARRY, I'M AT MY PARENTS' HOUSE! HE KNOWS WHERE THEY LIVE! HE AND RON BOTH DO, PLEASE HURRY!" Hermione's voiced screamed in fear.

"Scabior! I'll take you and Tom through and add you to the wards! Then you and I will come back and between you, me and Ron we can transport everyone to Hermione's house!" Harry, without missing a beat, ran over and grabbed Scabior's arm as Tom caught his other arm. The three disappeared. While waiting for Harry and Scabior to return, Ron ran over and began situating Fenrir and the other wolves into groups. Harry and Scabior popped back. Harry grabbed two arms, Ron grabbed two arms and Scabior grabbed the last two wolves and Fen.

As they all popped back into sight, all hell was breaking loose on the house. The wizards outside evidently didn't care that they were in the center of a muggle neighborhood. They were bombarding the house with every dark spell there was! Tom was hunkered down beside the busted window, throwing back hexes left and right. Hermione had put her parents into the next room and was hunkered on the other side, giving back as good as they were getting. Harry, Ron, Fenrir and the wolves all ran to the other windows and began returning fire.

"Scabior!" Hermione screamed. She zigzagged to where he stood. She jumped up on him and wound herself around him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I'm not ashamed of you, I'm not! I swear, I'm not. Please forgive me!"

He wrapped his arms around her, buried his face her hair and crooned to her. "Shush, it's alright, shush, beautiful! It's alright! Let's get you and your folks safe, then we can talk, ok?"

Harry ducked a chunk of ceiling as he watched them reunite. Fenrir grabbed him. "Potter, we gotta get everyone out of here! He's not playing around! He's going to bring the fucking place down!"

"Hermione! Grab your folks, take them up, have them grab some clothes! They can't stay here! Scabior Sr. is bringing the fucking roof down! He's destroying the whole house! Get them to Grimmauld Place! Go, now! We'll hold them off until you're clear! Go!" Harry yelled at her. She kissed Scabior, jumped down, nodded and ran out, her face pale but determined. Scabior dived over the couch and came up beside Harry.

"Hey! Arseholes! I'm in here! Come get some, you fuckers!" he yelled as he jumped up and fired a slicing hex toward the wizards outside. Harry and Fen looked at each other, rolled their eyes and face palmed at the same time. 'Yep, the boy was certifiable! He was just begging the old dog outside to try and kill him!' it seemed to work as they heard a bellow of outrage from the old dog. "BOY! I'LL KILL YOU AND HER BOTH! THEN I'LL FIND YOUR MUM AND KILL HER! I'LL KILL EVERY LAST MANJACK OF YOU ALL IN THERE, PROTECTING THAT FUCKING LITTLE MUDBLOOD!"

"GO AHEAD AND TRY IT, FUCKER! I'M RIGHT HERE, COME OUT THE FUCKING SHADOWS, ARSEHOLE! YOU SCARED OF ME SEEING YOU?!" Scabior stood boldly in front of the window, a shield charm deflecting spells away from him. He watched as a shadow broke away from the rest and rushed the house. Before Harry or Fen could catch him, he jumped out the window and met his father in the middle of the yard. Neither of them were playing as they hurled nothing but the Killing curse at each other. It was literally just a matter of who managed the shot that would end the other one.

Harry rushed upstairs. "Hermione, hurry! They're going for the foundations of the house!"

"Harry, is he ok?" she needed to know before she left.

"He's more than ok, he's doing great, Hermione. He's just worried about you and your parents. He's firing curses and cussing a blue streak down there, keeping them distracted!" Harry had to laugh.

Hermione smiled and grabbed her parents by the arms. "I'll see everyone at Grimmauld Place. Bring the wolves, too. I'll make a huge pot of beef stew. I'm sure they'll be starving after this hard of a fight!" she and her parents popped out of sight. Harry rushed back down the stairs, thanking his lucky stars that she hadn't looked outside to see her boyfriend in a fight to the death with his father.

Outside, both Scabior's were still trying their hardest to kill each other. They apparently came to a mutual silent decision that their wands weren't getting the job done fast enough. They proceeded to throw them down and jump at each other. It was such an unusual sight that the other attackers soon left the shadows to watch their boss and his son try to beat the living fuck out of each other! The wolves left the house cautiously and surrounded the wizards as Harry and Ron quietly, unobtrusively rebound them and sent them back to Azkaban for breaking their bonds. Soon the only one left was the one, front and center, brawling furiously with his son.

By throwing down his wand, Malaki Scabior had fucked up. He had forgotten that the boy had werewolf strength now and he was getting his ass kicked. He had been frustrated as hell when the boy kept dodging his curses while coming entirely too close returning them. It had never crossed his mind that Scabior was more ruthless than him now, thanks to the war, constant punishments from Voldemort and his own enthusiasm for helping punish the boy. He would never have realized the boy was merely 'playing with his food', as Fenrir said, if the boy hadn't started cackling while he threw him over his shoulder yet again! The damn little brat wasn't even breathing hard while it was all Malaki could do to draw in a deep breath. He cursed and dived for his wand as Scabior jumped on his back. He wrapped his arms around his dad's neck and put him into a chokehold.

"This is for my mum and my girl, you fucker! You better be glad I met her again or your ass would already be dead right now. As it is, you are going back to Azkaban. The dementors have missed you, Pops!" Scabior snarled into his dad's ear as the man went limp in his arms. He stepped back, unconcerned with how hard his dad hit the ground. Harry and Ron were grinning ear to ear. That had been an AWESOME fight! They were seriously glad they'd never had to face him in hand to hand combat during the war! It would have been over as soon as it started!

Scabior stopped as he backed into Tom. He turned and laid his head on Tom's shoulder again. "I wanted to kill him! So fucking bad! But all I could see was her, crying, watching me get hauled off to Azkaban for killing him."

"Shhh, you did good, boy! You did good! Let the dementors have their fun with him! Can't spoil their day, can you? Gotta let them have SOME fun in their lives, right?" Tom was pleased to hear the boy chuckle.

Harry sent Scabior Sr. back with a note pinned to his chest, ordering that the man's cell be surrounded with dementors for the next week while he got the man's trial fast tracked. This time, he was going to make sure the man went to trail, even if it meant blackmailing every witch and wizard he knew personally!

The group began apparating back to Grimmauld Place as the Aurors showed up. It was going to take a lot of Obliviates to get this fight out of the neighbors' minds. The Grangers home was a loss. What hadn't been bombarded had been set on fire. There would have to be a lot of false memories planted to explain away the destroyed home.

As Scabior popped in with his fellow wolves, they were laughing and tussling as they walked into the kitchen. A moment later, he found himself with an armful of Hermione. She was crying with relief as she covered his face in kisses. He pulled her tight against him, unable to even remember now, why he'd ever been fighting with her. He buried his face in her hair, sniffed and then suddenly he set her on her feet. He backed away from her, a fierce frown on his face.

"Scabior? What's wrong?" Hermione felt her stomach clench as he stepped back from her. Harry walked in just in time to see this standoff.

"How did you get into Muggle London earlier? You were in the Cauldron, weren't you?" Scabior snapped at her. Harry's eyes shot to Hermione, who looked guilty.

"Hermione! What the hell were you thinking?!" Harry joined Scabior in frowning fiercely at her. Hermione's parents stood behind her, listening to the scolding she was getting from her 'adopted' brother.

"H-how did you know it was me?" she cringed as he folded his arms over his chest. She knew now how he'd felt when she was scolding him over knife throwing and his holster belt!

"How DID you know it was her? You said you hadn't seen her." Harry was curious to hear this.

"I didn't know it was her, at the time. You might wanna confiscate that bloody beaded bag of hers, Potter! She has bloody Polyjuice potion in there! It took me sniffing her hair just now but I smelled her earlier, at the Cauldron. I didn't recognize her then because it was a blonde walking past me!" he looked accusingly at Hermione.

"Well, Hermione? You couldn't wait until I could send guards with you?!" Harry pulled his hair into a wild mess, almost rivaling her own hair.

"I'm sorry, I should have waited! I know that now, Harry, I'm sorry!" she hunched her shoulders and looked like she was about to burst out crying.

Harry sighed and looked at Scabior. Scabior raked his hands through his hair. "Damn it!" he stepped forward and embraced her once again. "From now on, we tell you to stay put, you stay put! You got it?!" he leaned against the table and kept her close. Hermione nodded emphatically.

"Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger, uh, you might want to plan on staying here for a while. I'm sorry but your home has suffered catastrophic damage. What wasn't blasted apart was burning and it might be better to just pull the rest of it down and start from scratch. I know that's not something anyone likes to hear but I couldn't let you go back without telling you." Harry looked apologetically at the Grangers.

James and Janet looked at each other, then their daughter. "That will be fine. It will give us a chance to reconnect with Hermione. And get to know this young man holding her." Hermione smiled up at Scabior as he looked at her parents.

"Scabior, oh my baby! Are you alright?" Annemarie came running into the kitchen to check on her son. She immediately started clicking her tongue at the bruised state of his knuckles.

"Scabior? What happened? What'd you DO?" Hermione gasped, seeing his knuckles for the first time.

"He went toe to toe with his old man, is what happened! You should have seen it, Hermione! He was GREAT!" Harry and Ron, along with the wolves, were happy to brag on Scabior's fight with his dad. He rolled his eyes as his mom and Hermione fussed over his hands.

Ginny and Andromeda had been helping Hermione and her mother cook a huge pot of beef stew for everyone. They announced that supper was done. They passed bowls around and the kitchen and drawing room both were filled to capacity. Everyone was talking about the fight.

Scabior and Hermione slipped out and went upstairs. They didn't say a word as they undressed and laid down. They just kept a good hold of each other. Once again, they had come entirely too close to losing each other.


	18. Scabior meets the parents

Scabior meets the parents.

Short chapter but this is possibly the start of wrapping up this story. Scabior meets the parents, we have a belated celebration and two mothers start planning!

Scabior woke up first the next morning, Hermione held tightly against him. He had his face buried in her hair and some of the longest strands were actually wrapped around his neck. He lay there, tracing her profile with his eyes. He still hadn't gotten past the fright of knowing he'd almost lost her the previous day, permanently. After carefully untangling himself, he got up, dressed, used the loo and headed downstairs. He was going to convince Potter to help him fix a breakfast tray for her. He'd take it up and she could eat while she got ready for work. If it wasn't an exam week, he'd have tried to get her to stay home a couple of days. When all this bullshit was done with his dad, he was going to talk her into going away with him for a couple of days.

He came into the kitchen and froze in the doorway. Harry, Ginny and Hermione's parents were quietly talking. They looked up at him. After a moment of indecision, he moved on into the room and pulled down a breakfast tray. "Morning, everyone." He came to the table and faced the Grangers. "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last night. I'm Michael Scabior, Hermione's boyfriend?" he looked at Harry. Harry laughed and agreed. He smiled charmingly at them. "I just want you to know I love her and intend to be around for as long as she wants me. I know I look pretty rough but I assure you, as long as she's with me, I'll treat her like a queen."

The Grangers were taken aback by the boy's honesty. Harry had warned them the boy said what he thought. He was right. They had been worried that he was just playing with their daughter's emotions for his own amusement. "Thank you for your honesty. I'm James, this is my wife Janet. I truly believe you mean that. It's not many men who would put their life in danger like that, unless they are really in love with a girl. If Hermione is happy with you, that's all that matters. Just don't ever hurt my little girl and we'll be fine and dandy."

"Harry, you think it would be possible for us to go to the Riot next weekend? My boys have never been to a nightclub before. Fen and I want to show them what one looks like." He glanced at Harry as he plucked some fruit out of the bowl on the table. Harry and Ginny glanced at each other. She nodded at him.

"There are seven of them, right? I think, with me, Ron, Marcus and Aidan, that should be more than enough protection for the two of you." Harry agreed. He was definitely not taking any more chances with Hermione's safety. Hopefully, she would also let their security measures stay in place until they knew, for sure, there would be no more trouble with Scabior, Sr. He didn't know how many more times he could stroke out and live, knowing she was in danger!

"There will be more than seven, some of my mated brothers are coming in as well." Scabior mentioned.

"All right, exactly how many pups does Fenrir have and are they his by blood or bite?" Harry wondered.

Scabior laughed. "Seven are his sisters' boys, five belong to his brother. He and Mary had seven that he bit but they're all dead. I was the youngest of his wizard born, the only one not bitten by him. He named me future Alpha of the pack because none of the others had the leadership skills that I, apparently, displayed during the war." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. It was that ability to state purely facts and his quick thinking that had brought forward the skills that Fenrir valued.

"So, I'm heading to the Ministry to discuss your dad with Shacklebolt and see if, this time, we can get his trial fast-tracked. Is there anything you'd like to ask of the Minister?"

"Yeah. If it's not the Kiss, then lock him up and throw away the key. Forget he's even in there. I never want to see him again. I know mum doesn't either." Scabior frowned at the thought of his dad. 'The damn fucker had almost cost him his little beauty!'

Harry nodded. After everything the elder Scabior had done, he was all in favor of the Kiss himself! "You better get that food upstairs. It's almost time for Hermione to wake up." He grinned slyly at him, having known why he was slipping food onto a breakfast tray. Scabior grinned broadly and left with the tray.

As he pushed open the door, Hermione's alarm was just going off. She groaned and stuffed her head under her pillow. He sat the tray on the bedside table and laughed. He worked the cover off of her and pulled the pillow away. She flopped over and pouted at him. He leaned over and kissed her. "Good morning, beautiful." He pulled her up and into his arms. "Don't ever scare me like that again, beautiful. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. All I could think about was, he was there, trying to kill you! I was afraid we were going to be too late."

Hermione hugged him reassuringly. "It's all right now. I'm right here. I was so scared yesterday, until I knew you were there. Then I knew everything would be ok. I don't want to lose you, either." They embraced until her alarm went off again. Then they broke apart, he sat the tray on the bed between them and they ate while she got ready for work.

They came downstairs hand in hand and separated at the Floo. Scarier went through to the Cauldron. Hermione and Parvati went to St Mungo's and Harry and Ron went to the Ministry. This gave Ginny, Andromeda and Annemarie the day to have the Grangers all to themselves. Andy introduced them to Teddy and they spent a most pleasant day discussing Hermione and Scabior. They filled them in on the recent experiment and had them howling with laughter over the escapades of their possibly future son in law.

"He won't be here anymore until the weekend. He lives with his adopted father at the Leaky Cauldron. However, if you want to get to know him better, we can go and join the crowd for lunch. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Parvati eat there quite often on their lunch break." Ginny told them. They all agreed they'd like to have lunch at the Cauldron. Ginny grinned broadly. 'Scabior was going to have quite a huge surprise when they all showed up!'

At lunch time, Scabior was changing out kegs again when he heard Tom start to chuckle loudly. He lugged the empty kegs to the storeroom before he thought to wonder why his dad was chuckling like that! He turned in time to catch Hermione in his arms. He immediately turned her back to the wall and pressed against her. They made out for a few minutes, even ignoring Tom checking on them. Finally, when they couldn't breathe, they broke apart and pressed their foreheads together.

"I didn't introduce you to my parents!" Hermione gasped.

"No problem, beautiful, I introduced myself to them." He answered breathlessly.

"When? What did they say?" Hermione wondered.

"This morning, after your hair tried to kill me! I went down and got us the food. They seem really nice." He told her. "I, uh, kind of let them know I would be around until you got rid of me."

"Damn right, you will be! And I'm not letting you go anytime soon, so put that thought right out of your head!" she pulled him back for another long kiss before the rest of his statement registered.

"My hair tried to kill you?" she giggled. She pulled a long strand forward, looking at it.

"Yep, it was wrapped right around my neck. Took everything I had to keep from waking you up for me to untangle myself." He laughed. He took the strand from her, tickling her nose with it.

"It misses your long hair. They would get all tangled up, remember?" she reminded him. He ran his fingers through his short hair. It would grow back soon enough. His hair always tended to grow fast. He set her gently on the floor as they went out front.

'Now he knew why Tom had been laughing!' Potter, the Weasleys, ALL of them, his mum, Hermione's parents, Fenrir, Mary and all his brothers were in the same room! Talk about a family reunion! Mrs. Weasley was bustling from one wolf to the next, taking their measurements. Hermione whispered that no doubt the wolves would be receiving a Weasley jumper, either for their birthday or Christmas, depending on how soon the matriarch decided to start knitting them.

Ron and Parvati were there as well as Neville and Hannah. To Scabior's surprise, it turned out to be a surprise victory party, planned by Ginny and Janet Granger. Hermione smiled and hugged her mother. James threw a heavy arm around Scabior as Harry, Arthur, the Weasley boys, Neville, Tom and Fen surrounded them. Harry, Ron,Tom and Fenrir all regaled them with the story of Scabior's fight with his dad. The women all surrounded Hermione.

"So, will we be hearing wedding bells anytime soon?" Ginny teased. They laughed at Hermione's red face.

"We haven't really talked about it yet. We both know we want to be together, though. Right now, until this whole dad thing is cleared up, we're just taking it day by day." Hermione told them shyly.

"Well, I think you two are a wonderful couple. It's as if you were made for each other." Said Parvati.

"Thank you, Parvati. And, just for the record, I'm not angry about you and Ron. That wasn't the cause of our break up. We were just not compatible and it took a while for it to sink in. You're one of my dearest friends and I'm glad the two of you are happy." Hermione told her sincerely.

Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger were already planning the first stages of a wedding. "I've always wanted Hermione to wear my wedding gown. Of course, I'm taller and more willowy than her so it might need some adjustments. He'll be such a handsome groom. I can't wait until they have babies, they'll be so adorable!" Mrs. Granger gushed.

"I saw him as a child, when they were running that experiment last week? Oh, he was so adorable and very good at getting into trouble!" Mrs. Weasley laughed, remembering the adorable little three year old ball of energy that had them laughing so much.

After a while, the crowd began thinning out as family members left. Just before she left with Harry and the others, Scabior took her upstairs. Knowing if he took her to his room, he wouldn't want to let her go, they only went as far as the top of the stairway, out of sight front the ground floor. He pulled her close. "Hey, beautiful. Seven o'clock, Friday night, we meet at the bar, go to the Riot. Sound good?"

"It's a date, handsome. I'm going to miss you all week! Friday night!" she kissed him. Then they headed back down so he could hand her off to Potter.


	19. The Riot

The Riot

This was a hard chapter to write. Not only because of technical difficulties (tablet froze repeatedly, changed my words around, still not sure if I caught all the spelling errors!), but also because our bad guy, Scabior Sr gets taken care of. Werewolves at the Riot!

Friday morning

It had been a long, busy week. Scabior knew why, though. His brothers been trying to keep him distracted from missing Hermione too much. They had seen each other every morning and evening as she came and went through the Floo. They would sneak a kiss here and there but nothing further. They knew it was best to not start something they couldn't finish. He had been talking to his mated brothers and he knew he was ready for the next level of their relationship. He knew from Potter that her training was almost over. Soon she would be an intern, not a trainee. Mary had been asking how she felt about midwifery and Fen had said it couldn't hurt having another healer in the family.

A week earlier

Harry Potter stormed into the Ministry that Monday morning. He went directly to the Minister's office, Ron on his heels. Barely waiting to be admitted, he strode to the huge desk, put his hands on it and said firmly. "I want Scabior, Sr. on trial as soon as possible! I'm sick and tired of the man trying to kill my sister and her boyfriend. How can I get his trial fast tracked? We have all the evidence we need! Why hasn't he gone to trial?!"

"Harry, he's a member of the Sacred Twenty Eight families. They aren't going to lightly send one of their own to trial. If you want it fast tracked, you need to get some of those families on your side!" Shacklebolt told him.

"The Weasleys might be poor but we are Sacred Twenty Eight. The Potters are, too. Malfoy, Flint, Pucey and Zabini could get their families behind them, I'm sure. He tried to cause a ruckus at the Riot. That's reason enough for them." Ron said.

Harry nodded in satisfaction. Shacklebolt rubbed his brows. "Ok, you talk to all of these families, see what they say, if they know anyone else. If you can bring me a good sized list of names, I'll put him on the court docket as soon as possible."

They nodded and left to begin their investigation. Harry knew, as the last of the Potter family, how he felt. They both knew Ron's family would back them but they needed to speak to the owners of the Riot. They went to the bar, not expecting them to be open yet. To their amazement, it appeared as if a restaurant had taken the place of a bar. But the same four bartenders were here.

"A restaurant? Thought it was a nightclub." Harry raised his brows.

Zabini laughed at him. "At night, it IS a nightclub. Daylight hours, however, turn it into a restaurant."

Flint nodded at them. "Potter, Weasley. What brings you gents here?"

"As you may or may not know, Scabior Sr was recently released, then promptly remanded back into Azkaban. He tried to kill Scabior and Hermione, again. We want to get him on trial. We have all the evidence we need but Shacklebolt says it'll be extremely difficult to convict him, being as he's Sacred Twenty Eight. He said the only way would-." Harry began.

"To get enough families on your side. The Zabini family will back you, Potter."

"As will the Flints." Marcus put in.

"My family will gladly back you, Potter." Said Aidan.

"Never let it be said the Malfoys didn't do their part. You have our backing. Talk to Millicent Bulstrode's father. I believe three of the young ladies kidnapped were some kin to them." Draco drawled lazily. Harry nodded, knowing where his next stop was going to be.

By the end of the day, they had the Malfoy's, Flint's, Zabini's and Pusey's. But they also had the Bulstrode's, the Parkinson's, Greengrass's, Chang's and Patil's. Through Narcissa Malfoy, they had the backing of the Black family. They weren't sure about the other families. They knew Dolohov had died at the battle as had Bellatrix Lestrange. They couldn't swear about the brothers, however. They were almost certain Rowle was dead or in Azkaban. Maybe Yaxley, too. They realized they hadn't really paid attention to which families had survived the war or not. But surely they had enough names now.

They apparated back to the Ministry. To their surprise, Shacklebolt was still sitting at his desk, doing paperwork. They walked in and dropped the list on his desk. As a broad grin spread across his face, he turned a few of the documents to face them. All that was required was their signatures as the arresting Aurors on the case. The whole time they were running around collecting support, he'd been cutting through the red tape with stunning efficiency!

"I managed to get him on the docket tomorrow, he'll be the first one up. I convinced a few members of the Wizengamot that they really didn't want this loose cannon, running around muggle neighborhoods causing rackets and kidnapping their own daughters for nefarious reasons." Shacklebolt looked very pleased with himself. Then he turned serious. "I'm not going to lie and tell you everything will go as planned. Even if he's convicted, they still might only imprison him for life. You know prisoners have ways of getting things done, even behind bars. At best, we'll ask for the Kiss. At worst, you might have to keep protective measures on Hermione and Scabior for as long as the old man lives. You know being in prison won't stop him from trying to kill them." Harry and Ron looked at each other and shuddered at the thought of trying to tell those stubborn lovers that they might never be rid of their bodyguards!

They left the Ministry shortly after that. On the way to Grimmauld Place, they were still struggling to find a way to break it to the lovebirds that they might never be rid of Scabior Sr. Hermione and Parvati, for once, had beaten them home and, along with Ginny and Janet Granger, were busy preparing supper. Harry didn't want to spoil her happy mood but he needed to let both her and Annemarie know about the upcoming trial as they might be called to testify. He had already caught both Scabior and Greyback at the Cauldron and invited them over.

When the two showed up, everyone was happy watching Hermione and Scabior together. After supper was over, Harry called everyone to the drawing room. It was the biggest room in the house and Hermione felt a sense of déjà vu. It was like being called to an Order meeting or a DA meeting at Hogwarts.

"Ok, we all know, by now, Scabior Sr. I've called this meeting to let you all know that he will be brought to trial in the morning. He's the first one on the court docket. Shacklebolt pulled some strings of his own. We have enough evidence to put him away but we are hoping it will be the Kiss. We THINK we have enough influential families backing us to press for the Kiss. The reason being," he looked at Hermione, the one more likely to go off the deep end! "We will never be able to drop the security measures. Even behind bars, he can and will find ways to either try to have both of you killed or just basically be enough of a nuisance that we have to keep you two guarded, for the rest of his life."

"What?! Do they know everything he's DONE?! Abandoning Scabior, kidnapping those girls, using the Unforgivables multiple times and trying on several different occasions to KILL his own son and heir!" Hermione shrieked, causing Scabior to wince and unobtrusively cover his ear briefly. Greyback had to cough to cover his snort of laughter. Scabior playfully glared and poked at him. Harry's lips twitched briefly before he continued speaking.

"Scabior, we'll need you, Tom and Greyback there. Hermione, we'll need you and Annemarie as well." Harry sighed, wishing this whole thing was already over and done with. "The trial will start at eight. I'd like to have all of you settled in the courtroom before then. They have all of our memories but some of you may be called to clarify certain events."

As the meeting wound down, Hermione and Scabior slipped off to the kitchen. They were glad of the unexpected opportunity for a visit but upset about the reason for it.

"Is this ever going to be over? I'm tired of having to be followed everywhere. I just want to find a dark corner, somewhere we can be alone, just the two of us!" Hermione sighed with discontent.

Scabior held her class and kissed her behind the ear. "Soon enough, sweetheart, soon enough. I want to take you somewhere, by ourselves, when your training is done. Take a week, gone camping, hide away from everyone! Sound good?"

Hermione smiled brightly. "I can barely wait!"

They held onto each other right up until they had to go their separate ways. Hermione had an early morning test to do before she went to the Ministry and Scabior went back to the Leaky Cauldron with Fen and Tom.

The next day, Harry was waiting anxiously for Hermione to arrive at the Ministry. She ran in breathlessly, the test having taken slightly longer than expected. They headed to the elevator and went to the courtroom level. The trial was about to start. They hadn't brought in Scabior Sr yet. As Harry and Hermione settled into their seats, he was brought in and chained to the seat in front of the judges. Looking around, Hermione realized that, even during all the Death Eater trials after the war, she'd never seen this many of the old Wizarding families in the same room. The old man was looking over at her and Scabior, a silent snarl wrinkling his lip.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. Let's get this trial underway, shall we?" he banged the gavel to show the official proceedings had started. "If anyone has read the papers lately, you all know the various charges against this man. Shall we begin with the charge of child abandonment/endangerment. How do you plead to this charge?"

"Not guilty. It wasn't a CHILD I left, it was a monster! My child died on the playground!" the old man snarled angrily,

"Did you or did you not offer up your heir, repeatedly, to Voldemort during the war?" the minister asked, frowning at him.

"Not guilty. I offered him an animal to use for fodder! Do you really think I'd allow a WEREWOLF to inherit my title, my estate?!" he shouted, jerking against his restraints.

"You kidnapped thirty young girls for the express purpose of that 'werewolf' marrying and producing an heir for the continuation of your line. How do you explain that?" Shacklebolt questioned sternly.

"Whoever said they were all for him? He only had to choose one. For that matter, whoever said they were for him at all? I have a barren wife, a filthy werewolf for a son and no other relatives. Maybe they were there for me to produce a proper heir of my own. Ever think about that?" he taunted.

"That brings me to another, more serious charge. You used the Cruciatus curse on your son, then you used the Imperious curse against Miss Granger to try and force her to kill your wife. How do you plead?" Shacklebolt looked at the old man.

"Guilty as hell! I wanted that little animal to suffer and I WANTED that little bitch dead! The stupid little mudblood fucked it up and he got the better of me while I was distracted!" he laughed gleefully.

"After you were released on house arrest, you then broke out, went to Miss Granger's house and tried to kill her. Your son and friends of his showed up and the two of you fought. Then you were sent back to Azkaban. What say you?" Shacklebolt frowned at the gleeful tone.

"Prison bars will NOT stop me! She will not dirty up our line! If a filthy werewolf has to produce the next heir, it will at least be with a pureblood wife! I'll kill both of them and my barren wife before I let a mudblood into our family tree." He screamed so violently, he was frothing at the mouth.

Shacklebolt looked around at the spectators. The old man wasn't helping himself as much as he thought, he was actually digging his own hole deeper. The old families were shifting around and muttering angrily amongst themselves. Shacklebolt banged the gavel and made an announcement. "You all know the charges against this man. You have all seen the memories and now we have heard his own answers to those charges. We will now convene for two hours. When we return we will pronounce the verdict and announce the sentence." He rose and left the room. The judges left behind him. Various representatives of the old families followed them.

"Mudblood! Oi, mudblood! You better hope they choose to kill me! You're number one on my kill list, ranked above that filthy animal who calls himself my son! After that is that barren wife of mine!" At that, Fen and Tom had to catch Scabior as he lunged forward, snarling angrily. The man laughed wildly, knowing how furious the boy was by how loud the scuffling was. Fenrir was angry enough by now to want to shred the man himself. "You better lock that Mudblood up and throw away the key, Potter, if you want her to live! You think they'll do anything to me?! I'm Sacred Twenty Eight, boy, they'll not do anything to me. I fucked three of those girls, one of them is bound to be knocked up, can't keep the father in prison, aye? You're pathetic, every last one of you, thinking you can actually get rid of ME!" he taunted.

"Don't let him rile you up, boy!" Fenrir growled into Scabior's ear. "He's just looking for a reaction, you know he is! Don't let him know he's getting to you! Just ignore the bastard!" Scabior, breathing heavily, sat back down and wrapped one arm around his mother and the other around Hermione.

Soon the Minister, followed by the judges and representatives, came back in, much sooner than two hours. He banged the gavel to quieter everyone down. The eldest judge stood up, sheet of parchment in his hand. "We, the Wizengamot, with the full permission and back of most of the scared twenty eight, do declare Malawi scarier guilty of all charges. We declare his sentence to be the Dementors Kiss Friday morning at eight am. Final judgment!" Shacklebolt banged his gavel again. The courtroom was dead silent. Scabior Sr, shocked that all his pulled strings had failed to save him, was absolutely speechless as he was led from the courtroom.

The room slowly began emptying out until it was just their small group. Scabior wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel now. He'd hoped for the bastard to receive the Kiss for years but now that it had been officially sentenced, suddenly he felt sick to his stomach. He looked at Harry and saw the same sick look that he was sure was also on his own face.

"I'm sorry, Scabior. I wish things could have gone differently for the two of you. Damn, I was hoping he'd relent and make peace with you." Harry laid a hand on Scabior's shoulder.

"It would have been nice. He didn't have to make me his heir again. All I wanted was for him to, at least, want to talk to me without trying to kill me!" Scabior ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"Well, if it's not too much bother, I'd like to keep the guards on you two until next Friday. By then all his henchmen will have been tried as well. I'll only feel easier about both of your safety if they are squared away, too." Harry told them. Hermione nodded. She now saw why Harry had been so worried. After the attack on her parents' house, she wasn't going to argue with them, for a while anyway.

The group all took the day off and went back to Grimmauld Place. It was a quiet rest of the day. After watching the trial and hearing the sentence, nobody felt like being very lively. Harry was dreading Friday morning. He knew Hermione would want to be there for Scabior and Annemarie. Deep down, he was still hoping for a reconciliation or at least a civil conversation between the male Scabior's. He knew Scabior wanted to talk to his dad one last time, if for no other reason than to, ask him why the man always blamed him for getting himself bitten. 'Surely the man should have known a nine year old child couldn't have fought off a full grown werewolf, didn't he?'

As for the dad, surely he didn't want to die with all of this unresolved business with his son. He had to feel something besides hatred for the boy! Maybe knowing how short of a time he had left to live would spurt the man into action. As the day faded into night, Scabior kept expecting to wake up from this nightmare. Surely, that's what it was. After years of wishing the man dead for abandoning him, suddenly he wanted him to live now. His dad, even with all the harsh punishments and disciplines growing up, had still been his hero. Even to this day, deep down, he still yearned for the man's approval.

After the werewolf attack, Fenrir and Tom were his heroes. Fenrir for rescuing him and teaching him how to become one with his wolf each month. Tom just for giving him food and shelter and, above all, not chucking him into a children's home. Without those two men, he definitely would not be alive today!

Wednesday morning came early. Fen and Tom had gone home. Scabior had stayed the night with Hermione. Now, laying there watching her get ready for work, he tried to get himself into a better frame of mind. "You'll be done with your training soon, yeah? Maybe we can go away for a week, maybe two afterwards?"

Hermione smiled softly at him. "I know a particular forest that's very beautiful this time of year. Maybe we could take a trip back there, create some better memories."

Scabior smiled. The forest of Dean held a few good memories and one memory in particular for him. He remembered that night, catching the strange scent. He'd nearly driven Fenrir and the other Snatchers bonkers, talking about that scent. Then Hermione and the boys, popping into the middle of their camp like that. Chasing her, Harry and Ron, capturing them, finally finding the girl whose scent had been driving him up the wall.

"Meeting you there, darling, was the best thing that happened in that forest. But we can make even more memories there, if you want. Just let me know and we'll be on our way." He watched her approach the bed. She sat beside him and stroked his hair.

"Two more weeks, hang on for two more weeks, then we'll go." She kissed him, then left for work. He laid there a few more minutes, then got up and got himself ready for work. He went downstairs, spent a few minutes talking to his mother, then he went to the Cauldron. Fen had Tom were at the bar, his brothers were scattered about the room. Even though his dad had officially been tried and convicted, they still wanted to make sure, like Harry, that his henchmen ere also taken care of.

"You alright, boy?" Fenrir asked quietly. Scabior leaned against the bar. "Why do I feel so attached to him, all of a sudden? I hate him, Fen, l have for years! Now, I hate the thought of him dying! Why?!" he felt anguished over this. 'The man had abandoned him, ignored him for years on end, offered him up as a sacrifice and repeatedly tried to kill him.'

Fen sighed. "Because it's too final. You've lived for years with him in your past. No contact or anything, mind you, but always there. Something for you to focus on not becoming. Now, he's going to be there but not there. No more fights, arguments or attempts to kill you. He'll just be a shell that used to be your dad."

"My mum will never be free of him, will she? Unless he breaks the bonds before the Kiss. She'll never be able to marry anyone else." Scarier felt sick to his stomach, realizing his mother might be tied to a shell of a wizard for the rest of her life, or until said wizard died and freed her.

"Actually, his infidelity would have broken the bonds. Unless, of course, the fidelity runes were just on her rings, not his. Wouldn't they, Fenrir?" Tom wondered.

"The runes of fidelity would have been on both rings. There's no way to enter even a simple marriage bonding without it being on both rings. So, yes, his infidelity would have been enough to break the bonds between them. Of course, she would have to go to the Ministry for confirmation." Fen said. Scabior let out a sigh of relief.

The rest of the week passed too quickly for him to keep up with. Soon the day dawned. Friday. Scabior still hadn't managed to reconcile his feelings of hate with the newfound feeling of sorrow for his dad. He opened his eyes, staring at the same ceiling he'd woken up to for past thirteen years. There was a pecking sound on his window. He got up and let the owl in. It was just a plain brown owl. It held a letter in its claw. He gave it a couple of treats as he took the letter. Expecting it to be from his mum, Hermione, Harry or even Fen and Mary, it wasn't. It was a simple sheet of parchment, folded in threes. It was from his dad. How the man had gotten it mailed was beyond him, but there it was. He was almost afraid to read it. Finally he took a deep breath and opened it up. It was just a few sentences but, surprisingly, it was enough. Enough for him to finally be able to remember the good parts AND the bad parts of the man. Of course it wouldn't be a Scabior letter if it didn't have a few insults thrown.

"Oi, wolf!

"Congratulations are in order! You are, after all, my heir. The estate is yours now. Don't fucking lose it or sell it! Don't touch my study! My portrait is already painted and hanging in there, with a permanent sticking charm. Find your own study, there are plenty of them to choose from! You can do fuck all with the rest of the house! If you want the mudblood comfortable there, you'll have to disable all the Anti-Muggle traps, good luck finding all of them!"

"I said all that to actually say this. I'm sorry. I was and still am a bad dad. I was raised full of hate and I tried to raise you full of hate. Yeah, I could have let your mum have more contact with you but then you would have grown up soft, wouldn't you? As it was, you were practically perfect until that fucking wolf bit you! I couldn't let myself be seen with an imperfect heir, of course, so I had to get rid of you! Anyway, that was then and this is now. All I can say now is, looking back, I'm sorry. I fucked up." Signed "Dad."

He folded the letter to show his mum and Hermione. Right now, he had to get ready, go collect his mum and soon to be wife, then go watch the old man basically die.

Hermione had taken the day off so she could be with Scabior and Annemarie. She definitely wasn't looking forward to seeing a wizard get his soul sucked out but she didn't want them to be alone. She knew Harry was also planning on being there. Fen was going to meet them at the Cauldron along with Scabior and Tom. Fen had told her Scabior was having trouble processing it. After years of wanting his father dead, now he was suddenly having doubts.

She and Annemarie came downstairs together and went to the kitchen. Harry was already there. He came over and hugged them both. Hermione and Annemarie were both dressed in black. Annemarie had decided that, even though she hated the man's guts, she would go to his execution, looking like the perfect pureblood wife he was always berating her to be. A sudden whoosh of the Floo announced the arrival of Fenrir and Mary, along with Tom. They didn't want their boy facing this without their support. Lastly, Scabior himself came through. He went straight to his mother to show her the letter. As she read it, she laughed and a few tears did slide down her cheeks.

The group then took the Floo to the Ministry and went down the passage way connecting it to Azkaban Prison. They walked single file with Harry at the front of the line and Ron bringing up the rear. He and Parvati had decided they needed to be there as extra support for Hermione who looked white as a sheep. She was still frightened of the man who had almost cost her the love of her life. She had thought, long and hard, about the matter and decided that she was more than ready to not only marry Scabior but also start a family with him. All she was doing now was waiting for him to pop the question.

They were shown into a viewing room and seated. The left wall lit up and proved to be a mirror into the execution room. There w's already a Dementor hovering near the ceiling. A door on the far side of the room opened up and two guards walked in, escorting Malaki Scabior. There was a single chair in the center of the room. The guards walked the prisoner over and strapped him down to the chair. Never once did he act like he even felt the presence of the Dementor. After making sure his bindings were secure, the grads stepped back. One of them addressed him. "Does the prisoner have any last words?"

"Aye, the prisoner does." He turned his face toward the viewers like he could actually see them. "Wolf! I know you got my letter! Make sure you abide by it, every word of it! Good luck springing all those traps! Even I don't know where most of them are! Maybe the portraits will help, if you can threaten them bad enough!" he laughed wildly. "When you and that Mudblood start spewing out pups, don't raise them to be pansies, you hear?! Raise them tough, boy, just like I raised you!"

He then looked at the guard and said, "Well? The fuck are you waiting for?! Bring on the fucking Dementor, already! I know the fucker is here, I can feel him!" The guard looked startled. Evidently he was used to prisoners begging for their lives at the last minute! Scarier rolled his eyes! 'Of course, the fucker would go out cussing!'

The guards looked at each other, then towards the viewers. A voice echoed into the room. "Prisoner, are you sure that you have nothing else to say?" Malaki Scabior looked up with a truly evil grin and said. "What else is there to say? Calling Hellfire and Damnation onto the head of my barren wife, werewolf son and Mudblood daughter in law? Telling them all to go fuck off and die? You tell me, what else DO I need to say?! He knows what I wanted him to know. That's the end of it. Let's get this shit storm on the road! Oi, Dementor! I'm over here, come get some!" he cackled madly. The guards looked at him fearfully and backed away from him, into a corner of the room. The dementor swooped down, surrounding the man. They could hear him laughing right up to his last breath. After the wraith swooped away, they all stared at the man. He was slumped in his chair, looking for all the world as though he were simply asleep.

There was total silence in the room. Ron stood with Fenrir and Tom. Harry was beside Scabior. Annemarie, Hermione and Parvati were huddled with Mary. Without a word to anyone, Scabior left the room. Hermione started after him until Harry stopped her, telling her to let him grief privately for a few minutes. Annemarie, believing she hated the man and wished this death on him, was crying. She hadn't realized it would hurt so much to watch him die. He came back a few minutes later to check on her and his mother. After reassuring himself that they were ok, he held them close to him.

As the investigating Aurors on the case, Harry and Ron were both required to sign the death certificate, stating they had witnessed the execution. They made arrangements for the body to be sent home and buried in the family plot. Harry seriously doubted the Manor would ever be opened up or lived in anymore unless it was the behest of Hermione or Annemarie. Scabior's utter revulsion of his birth home ensured he would never willingly set foot in it ever again.

They all adjourned to the Leaky Cauldron afterwards. Hermione was worried. Scarier hadn't said a word since watching his father die. His continued silence scared her slightly. It was the quietest she'd ever known him to be. 'Surely he wasn't feeling guilty over the man's death. The old man had brought his punishment on himself!' she didn't know he was struggling to find the words to let her know how he was feeling.

At seven o'clock, he told her to go get ready. They were going to the Riot with his brothers. "Are you sure? After-?" she started.

"Yes, I'm sure. Go get ready." He shooed her on her way. After escorting Annemarie back and leaving her with Andromeda, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Parvati came back with Hermione. They went through the Floo and into the nightclub, the wolves right behind them. Scabior's hand was tightly grasping Hermione's hand as he pulled her straight to the bar. He held out his other hand and snapped his fingers at Blaise. The boy reached under and pulled out the little pillbox. After a Vicodin and a shot of whiskey, they took their second shots to the dance floor. Harry nodded to himself. Scabior wanted to drink his pain and sadness away and have an excuse to keep his arms wrapped around Hermione. "I wanted his approval. Even though I knew he'd never give it. I just wanted, one last time, for him to approve of me, tell me I mattered. That's all. Was that so very much to ask for?" Hermione reached up and wiped away a few tears. Scabior didn't cry often or easily. She knew it took a lot to get her big wolf upset. Watching the death of the father he despised should, in his eyes, have been a breeze! Instead here he was, crying like a baby.

The mated wolves went to the dining tables to keep watch over their little Beta. The unmated wolves followed them down, found pretty girls and joined them on the dance floor. Harry and the rest of their friends watched as they drifted into their own little world.


	20. Breakdowns and Garden Gnomes

Breakdowns and Garden Gnomes

Three months. It had taken three months for him to finally breakdown and let all his emotions out. Tom had set aside an alley with a dummy attached to a barrel spelled and dressed to look like Scabior, Sr. He'd ignored that alley for three months, until that is, the day Hermione came to the Leaky Cauldron. They could all see she had something to say that he wasn't going to like. Sure enough, when she told him the news, he finally went ballistic!

"They came in today, the three girls your dad mentioned, the ones that he attacked. They are all pregnant. Scabior, they want to get rid of them but they did say, if you were willing to take them off their hands, they would carry and deliver them. They're waiting for your answer. If you say no, all three of them are going to terminate. Their parents have already signed the papers. The only thing that WOULD have stood in their way was if he were still alive and in prison. It would have automatically freed him and forced them to carry the children whether they wanted to or not." Hermione told him.

Scabior knew it wasn't the thought of his dad having three more heirs, though they would be illegitimate. He would gladly turn the title over to any of them. No, it was the thought that, even from the grave, his dad had still ruined lives. These girls, untouched until now, would never forgot the pain and fear of their first time. This, the birth of their first children, should have been an occasion of joy and happiness. Instead it was yet another painful reminder of the man who attacked them.

Scabior stared at her in silence, then turned and walked away. Fenrir stopped her this time, watching him take the door to the back alley, the one Tom had gotten ready for him as soon as his father died. As she watched him walk away, she realized this was something he needed to work out on his own. She went and watched him through the window.

She could see him screaming but she couldn't hear him. Tom had put excellent wards on the alley. Not only to keep everyone out but to allow him the freedom to scream out his anger, hate and anguish. He lashed out again and again, throwing the Killing Curse over and over at the dummy. After tiring of using his wand, he threw it down and pulled his knife. Shredding the dummy all to pieces seemed to bring him more satisfaction. He repaired it only to shred it again, repeatedly. Finally, breathing heavily, worn out by fighting the dummy, he knelt in the middle of the alley, head hanging. He threw back his head and just screamed. Screamed his rage to the heavens above. Then he fell over on his side and just laid there, eyes empty, face blank.

He laid there so long, Hermione almost went out to check on him. Just as she was reaching for the doorknob, he raised up and ran his hand through his hair. Then he stood and made his unsteady way back to the door. Upon opening it and discovering her, he stopped and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you." He said as he walked her back to the bar with him. "I'll take them, all three of them. Let them know expenses are no problem. They won't have to worry about me contacting them or anything. Just let me know the night they deliver so I'll know when to be there."

Hermione smiled. She'd known he'd take the babies. Lately he'd been a lot more affectionate with Grace and Alex, even keeping them overnight on the weekends at Harry's place so they could also enjoy Teddy's company. Of course, every time he had them, she also got to satisfy her budding mommy urges and cuddle them. Soon, he'd have more babies for her to play with.

Hermione went back to the hospital to let the families know. The parents all drew great swallows of relief. The young mothers wept with joy. They'd all read accounts of witches who terminated and they weren't ready to feel that slight sense of guilt. Hermione's own mother had also had to go through this decision. She'd gotten pregnant again after Hermione but the fertilized egg had never made it out of the Fallopian tube, forcing her to terminate. She'd cried for months afterwards, feeling guilty over the child she'd never had a chance to raise. They all asked her to let him know they would like to visit their children but they just couldn't handle raising them, especially if they looked like their father.

That evening was a Friday. They had gotten back in the habit of going to the Riot every weekend. It was the closest thing they had to getting away from it all, until she finished her training. She had already told Fenrir she intended to visit the pack as soon as she could. She wanted to train with Mary and possibly make a part time home there. She and Scabior had talked it over and decided they didn't need a place of their own yet. For now they would split their time between the Leaky Cauldron and Grimmauld Place. Once she completed her St Mungos training, they would add the Den into their housing choices.

That night, their entourage came through. As usual, they made their first stop at the bar for a Vicodin and two shots of Firewhiskey each. One shot and the pill down, they took their second shots to the dance floor. In addition to the Vicodin's, Blaise had also talked the other owners into playing piped in Muggle music on the weekends, knowing how popular it was with much of their clientele.

Scabior smiled as 'Just Like Jesse James' began as he and Hermione hit the dance floor. It was the first song they had ever danced to and he wanted to make it even more memorable. He danced her over to the wall, pressed flat against her and held up a small box. She looked at it and gasped. She covered her mouth as tears popped into her eyes. He sank to one knee and asked her, "Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?"

"Yes, yes." She half gasped and laughed happily. She held out her hand and a few tears escaped as he slid the ring onto her finger. All around them, cheers and congratulations were being shouted. The crowd of regulars felt honored that he had chosen this particular time and place to pop the question.

They danced the rest of the night. When they finally left, it was around three am. They stumbled through the Floo into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. Being unwilling to stop kissing long enough to make it upstairs, they simply stumbled into the library and locked the door behind them. They found that the rug in front of the fireplace was very comfortable!

Harry and Ginny were waiting for them later that day, with mischievous grins. "Well, I think we might need to try out the library soon, Ginny. It sounded like they were having ever so much fun in there."

Hermione went bright red as she realized they had forgotten to silence the room last night, which meant that EVERYONE, (Incuding his mother and her parents!) had heard them last night! Mortified, she grabbed his arm and pulled him upstairs. "Don't hold lunch for us, we're going shopping! Be back later!" he laughed as she pulled him into their bathroom. They took a quick (for them) shower and she led him out into Muggle London.

They had gone into some of her favorite shops, picking up little odds and ends. In a clothing shop that specialized in leather, she found him the perfect pair of leather pants and found a skirt to match. They got matching black silk shirts and were ready for another night of dancing at the Riot. She took him into her favorite beauty salon while she got her hair trimmed. He wouldn't let her get too much of it cut off, claiming he wouldn't have enough to play with. Next they went to a little bistro and had lunch before heading back to Grimmauld Place. On their way bark, they had to go into a bookstore that Hermione just couldn't walk past. They browsed around and found a few books they each liked.

Back at Grimmauld Place, the rest of the gang was also getting ready for the Riot. Annemarie, Andromeda and the Granger's were all taking turns playing with Teddy Lupin. Hermione ran in as soon as she heard him laughing. "Teddy bear! There's my little Teddy bear! Oh, I missed you!" she pulled him into a tight hug. Teddy wrapped his arms around her neck, nuzzling into her shoulder. Scabior lounged in the doorway, watching them. She was a natural mother and he couldn't wait to see her with their own child.

Annemarie saw the ring first. "Oh! Hermione! Is that-? You and Scabior?!" Hermione smiled proudly as she held out her hand, showing off the ring. The three older women instantly started squealing and chattering excitedly about weddings. Hermione made it plain she was not planning any wedding but they were more than welcome to. Just let her and Scabior know where to be and when to be there. They immediately began making plans and drawing up lists. Hermione thought about letting them know about the new babies on the way but thought better of it. Annemarie might not welcome news of her dead ex-husband's new children on the way. Scabior might not want it known until he was sure the girls weren't going to back out of the deal and terminate or keep their children.

The next six months was a busy time for them. She finished her training and began apprenticing with Mary. She and Scabior moved into the Den while she did so. Harry and Ginny got married and soon after Ron and Parvati followed their lead. As promised, Hermione refused to get involved in any plans made for her own wedding. The most she agreed to was deciding the color of her dress and trying it on to make sure it fit.

They were called to a lovely little Muggle church one day. All their families and friends were there to witness the beautiful ceremony that united them in matrimony. Her parents had rented a nearby union hall and that's where they had their reception. They cut the cake, had their first dance to their song, 'Just Like Jesse James', and were about to perform the time honored traditions of tossing the garter (him) and tossing the bouquet. She went first and everyone cheered as Luna Lovegood caught the bouquet. Then it was Scabior's turn. He laughed as he prepared to flip the garter high into the sky. They all watched as it came down and landed in the hands of one Marcus Flint. All the boys cat called as he turned red but smiled and proudly displayed his trophy.

The family retreated back to the Burrow for a continuation of the reception. Ron took Scabior out back and taught him how to de gnome the garden. Hermione, Ginny and Parvati laughed as Harry joined them and the three boys had the garden de gnomed in no time. Suddenly, an owl swooped in, then another and yet another. All headed for Scabior, touching down on the garden wall. Presumably they were waiting for replies.

Hermione released the notes. She thought she might know what they were but thought it best to let him open them. "Scabior?"

He walked over, taking the notes. He opened them, one by one. He looked over at his mum. "Dad's three attack victims are having their babies. I told them I'd raise them. If you don't want to see them, we can leave them at the Den or the Leaky Cauldron on the weekends."

"Those babies are not responsible for who their father was. Of course I want to see them! You know I love babies!" Annemarie scolded him, lovingly.

Scabior and Hermione went to the hospital and waited. Finally, they were called back to the girls' rooms. All three babies were boys and as such, not only illegitimate heirs to the Scabior fortune but also the heirs to their mothers' families as well. The grandparents insisted on setting up trust funds for the children as well as a weekly visit.

Finally everything was settled and the new parents were ready to leave. They put on baby packs to carry the children in and Scabior insisted on carrying all the heavy stuff needed for transporting three babies. They put the babies in their carriers and covered them up. Scabior and Hermione looked at their boys, looked at each other and smiled as they walked out the door and prepared to enter their new lives together.

Back at the Leaky Cauldron, Fenrir Greyback was visiting with Tom Abbott. They received an owl from Harry, telling them about the babies their son and his new wife had just gone retrieve. They smiled slyly as they raised a toast. They had started out with no grandchildren, now they had six. It was certainly a good day to be them!

This might not be how you wanted it to end up. I really feel like I had nowhere else to go with this story so I'm calling it complete. Thank you to all the people who followed and favorited this story. I love you all! Kisses and hugs!


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